Search Captions & Ask AI

Leslie Allen Williams | World’s Most Evil Killers

June 12, 2026 / 44:10

This episode covers the crimes of serial killer Leslie Allen Williams, including the abduction and murder of four teenage girls in Michigan during the early 1990s. Key discussions include Williams' criminal history, his early release from prison, and the impact on the victims' families.

The episode begins with a man witnessing an assault in a cemetery on May 24, 1992, leading to the arrest of Leslie Allen Williams, who had previously been linked to four missing girls. The police discovered evidence in his home that connected him to the murders of Kami Villanueva, Michelle and Melissa Urban, and Cynthia Jones.

Williams' background is explored, detailing his troubled upbringing in Detroit, his criminal history beginning at age 17, and his eventual release from prison in 1990. His early release allowed him to commit further crimes, including the abduction of the four girls.

Victim profiles are discussed, highlighting the lives of the girls before their tragic deaths. The investigation into their disappearances is detailed, including the challenges faced by law enforcement in connecting the cases.

The episode concludes with Williams' confessions, his sentencing to life in prison without parole, and the subsequent reforms to Michigan's parole system prompted by the case.

TL;DR

Leslie Allen Williams, a serial killer, abducted and murdered four teenage girls in Michigan, highlighting failures in the parole system.

Episode

44:10
00:00:01
[music]
00:00:05
>> On May the 24th, 1992,
00:00:08
a grieving man arrived at a quiet
00:00:11
cemetery to place flowers on his
00:00:13
father's grave.
00:00:15
But something disturbing caught his eye.
00:00:20
>> He looks off in the distance and he sees
00:00:22
this man
00:00:24
that appears to be assaulting this
00:00:26
woman.
00:00:27
And so he realized something was really
00:00:29
wrong.
00:00:30
>> The man rushed out of the cemetery to
00:00:33
find help. After a police chase, the
00:00:36
assailant was caught and the woman was
00:00:38
rescued from the back of his car.
00:00:41
>> She was near death because she was being
00:00:44
asphyxiated by some sort of device
00:00:48
around her neck.
00:00:50
>> The attacker was 38-year-old Leslie
00:00:53
Allen Williams and police soon
00:00:55
discovered that this wasn't his first
00:00:57
abduction.
00:00:58
After finding evidence in his home
00:01:01
linking him to four missing teenage
00:01:03
girls, Williams confessed to their
00:01:06
murders.
00:01:07
>> I think Williams confessing was for his
00:01:10
own benefit and absolutely nobody else's
00:01:13
benefit whatsoever.
00:01:16
>> When we interviewed him, he expressed no
00:01:19
emotion.
00:01:21
It was like he was ordering a cup of
00:01:22
coffee.
00:01:24
>> Left with nowhere to run, Leslie Allen
00:01:27
Williams had been unmasked as one of the
00:01:30
world's most evil killers.
00:01:56
>> In July 1992, at Oakland County Circuit
00:01:59
Court in Michigan,
00:02:02
Leslie Allen Williams pleaded guilty to
00:02:04
the murders of 18-year-old Kami
00:02:07
Villanueva, 16-year-old Michelle Urbin,
00:02:10
and her 14-year-old sister Melissa, and
00:02:13
15-year-old Cynthia Jones.
00:02:16
The serial killer even led police to the
00:02:19
sites where he'd buried their bodies.
00:02:23
>> There can be no doubt [music] that
00:02:24
Leslie Allen Williams was a truly evil
00:02:27
man.
00:02:28
He took the life of four
00:02:31
young high school students who had their
00:02:33
whole lives in front of them.
00:02:36
It was an act of grotesque depravity.
00:02:41
>> A really sad thing about this case is
00:02:43
each one of these four teenage girls he
00:02:45
killed, he told them that he would let
00:02:47
them go.
00:02:50
He told them that if they just did what
00:02:53
he said,
00:02:54
they'd be okay. He'd release them. And I
00:02:57
think that makes it
00:02:58
>> [music]
00:02:58
>> way worse.
00:03:00
>> The families and the jury were horrified
00:03:03
to learn that Williams had previously
00:03:05
been let out of prison early for good
00:03:08
behavior.
00:03:09
>> Leslie Allen Williams had been a career
00:03:11
criminal
00:03:13
and was released many times
00:03:16
by our parole boards
00:03:19
and it was
00:03:21
shortly after his release that the first
00:03:25
of the four girls that he kidnapped and
00:03:28
killed disappeared.
00:03:32
>> There was a great deal of criticism
00:03:34
publicly, especially in the media.
00:03:37
There were people at the time of the
00:03:38
Williams case who began campaigning for
00:03:41
a reform of Michigan's parole system.
00:03:46
>> If Williams had not been caught
00:03:48
in May of 1992, [music]
00:03:52
he would not have stopped.
00:03:55
There would have been other people
00:03:57
kidnapped,
00:03:59
violated,
00:04:00
and killed.
00:04:05
>> This killer's story begins in the
00:04:07
Midwest.
00:04:10
Leslie Allen Williams was born on
00:04:13
Independence Day, July the 4th, 1953,
00:04:17
and he grew up in Detroit, Michigan.
00:04:21
>> His mother had been married before, and
00:04:24
she had two daughters.
00:04:26
But then, she married Leslie's father,
00:04:30
and they had three boys together.
00:04:33
But
00:04:34
neither were exactly perfect parents.
00:04:39
>> He grew up in his earliest years in a
00:04:42
suburb of Detroit called Garden City,
00:04:45
and his mom was known to work
00:04:48
prostitution in the home.
00:04:51
His dad was sexually abusing Leslie's
00:04:54
sisters.
00:04:56
So, it was a troubled upbringing.
00:05:00
>> When Williams witnessed the sexual
00:05:02
violence in his home, the sexual abuse
00:05:05
of his siblings, and the sex work of his
00:05:09
mom, he probably learned quite early on
00:05:12
that relationships are highly
00:05:14
transactional, and they're not about
00:05:17
emotional connection. And that is going
00:05:20
to have a significant on the way he
00:05:22
conducts his own relationships.
00:05:25
>> After an investigation into the sexual
00:05:28
abuse of his stepdaughters,
00:05:31
Williams' father was committed to a
00:05:34
state hospital for the criminally
00:05:36
insane,
00:05:37
but not before alerting police to his
00:05:40
wife's sex work.
00:05:43
>> Leslie's mother took
00:05:46
some of the family to California in an
00:05:49
effort I think to escape the reputation
00:05:52
that she had
00:05:53
in Detroit.
00:05:56
She then fell in love and after she was
00:05:59
divorced, she married her third husband.
00:06:03
But that too didn't really go well.
00:06:09
In the end, she decided that she would
00:06:13
divorce the third husband.
00:06:16
But then tragically on the night [music]
00:06:18
before the divorce hearing,
00:06:21
her third husband went to visit her
00:06:24
and killed her, shot her in the head
00:06:28
before killing himself.
00:06:31
She has two boys of hers with her
00:06:34
and anything they might have seen as
00:06:36
normal has gone out of the window.
00:06:40
It's hard to imagine a worse upbringing.
00:06:43
>> At just 9 years old, Leslie Allen
00:06:47
Williams had lost both of his parents.
00:06:50
>> His mother was murdered, his father was
00:06:53
a sex offender, he had no stability, no
00:06:58
boundaries in his [music] life at all
00:07:01
and and no child should have to tolerate
00:07:05
that.
00:07:07
>> [music]
00:07:07
>> Now Leslie was without either parent. So
00:07:11
at that point, he and a brother of his
00:07:14
were brought back to Michigan to live
00:07:16
with their grandparents in Milford,
00:07:17
which is another Detroit suburb on the
00:07:20
west side of Metro Detroit.
00:07:24
>> As Williams neared adulthood, he turned
00:07:27
towards a darker, criminal path.
00:07:31
>> [music]
00:07:32
>> He was only 17 years old in 1970. He was
00:07:36
arrested for breaking and entering in a
00:07:38
home
00:07:40
and that began a long criminal career.
00:07:44
>> Williams' history of offending, it
00:07:46
started when he was really young. And
00:07:48
the younger it starts, quite often the
00:07:51
more longevity it has, the more it's
00:07:54
going to carry on.
00:07:56
>> Between 1972 and 1983, he's literally in
00:08:00
and out of prison, in and out of the
00:08:02
court.
00:08:03
It's just a litany, including burglary,
00:08:06
more significantly
00:08:08
sexual assault and attempted kidnapping.
00:08:13
He's either being charged, waiting on
00:08:16
bail, in prison.
00:08:19
>> For somebody like Williams, who was
00:08:21
relentless in his offending, he may have
00:08:25
felt empowered by the system not holding
00:08:27
him to account.
00:08:29
But also, I think given his personality
00:08:33
traits, I think he already felt quite
00:08:36
entitled and empowered to behave the way
00:08:39
he did, and probably manipulated and
00:08:42
used the system.
00:08:44
>> In 1983,
00:08:46
Williams broke into a woman's home. But
00:08:49
what started as a routine burglary
00:08:52
quickly took a sinister turn and
00:08:54
escalated to attempted kidnap and sexual
00:08:58
assault.
00:08:59
>> He was recognized at that point as being
00:09:02
a habitual offender. And so, he had a
00:09:05
couple different sentences in front of
00:09:07
him. For the actual assault, he had a
00:09:08
sentence of 5 to 10 years. For being a
00:09:11
habitual offender, he had a sentence of
00:09:14
7 to 30 years.
00:09:17
>> It's the first lengthy sentence he's
00:09:19
had, so he's going to be an older, or at
00:09:21
least an old man by the time he gets out
00:09:24
of jail.
00:09:26
>> With Williams behind bars, women in
00:09:29
Detroit could finally sleep a little
00:09:32
easier.
00:09:33
But not for long.
00:09:35
>> He's an absolutely model prisoner.
00:09:38
He has a particularly receptive
00:09:40
psychiatrist
00:09:42
who says, "Well, I think, you know, you
00:09:44
have really made splendid progress and
00:09:47
you know, we want to rehabilitate you."
00:09:50
And so writes [music] a very glowing
00:09:52
report to the prison authorities about
00:09:55
just how well Leslie Williams has done.
00:09:58
>> In 1990, 37-year-old Williams was
00:10:02
released on parole after serving just
00:10:05
six years of his maximum 30-year
00:10:08
sentence.
00:10:09
>> People were probably manipulated [music]
00:10:12
by this idea that because he was polite,
00:10:15
that somehow that meant he wasn't
00:10:18
dangerous.
00:10:19
Despite all of the evidence showing that
00:10:22
he was a repeat and serial offender.
00:10:27
>> In my opinion, he could have been kept
00:10:30
in longer and he should have been.
00:10:33
I don't know why they were so lenient
00:10:36
with him given the nature of his
00:10:38
offending.
00:10:40
>> Despite the severity of his crimes, the
00:10:43
parole system was satisfied that
00:10:45
Williams was a changed man.
00:10:49
The following year, the mysterious
00:10:51
disappearance of an 18-year-old woman
00:10:53
from her home would spark fear
00:10:57
across the community.
00:11:06
In the early hours of September the
00:11:08
15th, 1991,
00:11:11
in the quiet village of South Lyon,
00:11:13
Oakland County, Michigan, 18-year-old
00:11:16
Kami Villanueva was home alone whilst
00:11:19
her older sister was out on a date.
00:11:24
>> Kami Villanueva, she's 18. She's a
00:11:27
bright, honor student, cheerful, whole
00:11:30
world in front of her.
00:11:32
>> [music]
00:11:33
>> Quite a shy girl. She wasn't a great
00:11:35
party-goer and she lived with her
00:11:37
sisters.
00:11:38
>> [music]
00:11:40
>> Cammie's older sister came home and saw
00:11:44
that uh Cammie was not home.
00:11:48
She went into her room. She saw that
00:11:50
things were basically undisturbed.
00:11:55
>> The bedroom is deserted, but everything
00:11:57
that Cammie left is all just exactly as
00:11:59
it was.
00:12:01
In fact, she's astounded.
00:12:04
Is her inhaler,
00:12:05
the solitaire she was playing,
00:12:08
purse,
00:12:09
denim jacket, which she never went out
00:12:11
without.
00:12:13
It's as if she's disappeared into thin
00:12:14
air.
00:12:16
>> She wondered, "Okay, what happened?
00:12:18
Where is she?"
00:12:20
The following day, she reported her
00:12:21
missing to police.
00:12:26
>> There was no signs of any kind of forced
00:12:28
entry.
00:12:29
From you know, my conversations with
00:12:32
the Oakland County Sheriff's Department
00:12:35
detectives that worked that part of the
00:12:37
case,
00:12:39
it was unknown why she was no longer
00:12:41
home.
00:12:44
>> Nobody knew what [music] happened to
00:12:45
her. She was a missing person case. They
00:12:47
don't They didn't know if she had been
00:12:49
killed or if she ran away or what
00:12:51
happened.
00:12:53
>> Just as police were getting to grips
00:12:55
with Cammie's [music] case, 2 weeks
00:12:57
later they received another call from
00:13:00
the concerned parents of two teenage
00:13:02
girls,
00:13:04
16-year-old Michelle and 14-year-old
00:13:07
Melissa Urban.
00:13:10
>> Melissa and Michelle Urban had a
00:13:13
perfectly normal sisters relationship,
00:13:15
partly wonderful friendship, partly
00:13:17
hating each other. It was a [music]
00:13:19
typical sisterly bond.
00:13:23
>> They lived in a rural area of Michigan
00:13:25
near the town of Hartland, which is
00:13:28
about an hour northwest of Detroit.
00:13:33
>> They have nothing particular to worry
00:13:35
about, and it's a perfectly ordinary
00:13:37
day.
00:13:39
>> On September the 29th, 1991,
00:13:43
after a Sunday dinner with the family,
00:13:46
the two girls set off on an evening
00:13:48
walk.
00:13:50
>> The morning after they had gone for
00:13:52
their walk,
00:13:54
when the father noticed they weren't
00:13:56
home,
00:13:57
he said,
00:13:58
>> [music]
00:13:58
>> "We need to call the police."
00:14:02
A young trooper was sent to make contact
00:14:05
with the parents,
00:14:08
and it was learned from them that they
00:14:10
did not return home the night before.
00:14:14
>> The police retraced [music] the steps
00:14:16
the sisters had taken on their walks,
00:14:19
and found no trace of them. They also
00:14:21
began to interview the local community
00:14:23
[music] to find out the background,
00:14:25
but nothing led them to what had
00:14:27
happened to the sisters.
00:14:31
>> The information we got
00:14:33
>> [music]
00:14:33
>> in contacting friends and family members
00:14:36
was that they did not know anything
00:14:38
about it. They had not seen the girls,
00:14:40
had not heard from them.
00:14:42
They were concerned.
00:14:45
They did not
00:14:46
understand why the girls would have been
00:14:49
been gone for so long.
00:14:52
>> Although these contacts didn't provide
00:14:55
an explanation for Michelle and
00:14:57
Melissa's disappearance, they did reveal
00:15:00
this wasn't the first time the girls had
00:15:02
gone missing.
00:15:04
>> A young trooper did a very good
00:15:06
background finding that they had at one
00:15:09
point run away for a weekend before
00:15:12
returning home.
00:15:15
With any missing person report, we
00:15:17
always expect the worst.
00:15:22
But because of their the past history
00:15:24
where the girls had
00:15:26
had been missing voluntarily, it wasn't
00:15:28
until
00:15:30
several days later,
00:15:32
perhaps a week or two actually before
00:15:34
the concern became greater.
00:15:37
They had never been gone this long.
00:15:40
They had left behind items that
00:15:43
they would not have left behind before.
00:15:47
>> They were reported as missing and then
00:15:49
the family struggled for months not
00:15:52
knowing what happened to those girls.
00:15:57
>> With no leads and concern mounting for
00:16:00
the whereabouts of Michelle and Melissa,
00:16:02
police brought in Michigan state
00:16:04
profiler David Minzey to help with their
00:16:07
investigation.
00:16:11
>> First thing I did was make sure that I
00:16:13
go meet with detectives.
00:16:16
I want to know the things that weren't
00:16:17
in the report. What bothered them? What
00:16:20
about that case was troubling them?
00:16:22
>> [music]
00:16:23
>> We focus on the victimology. These are
00:16:26
very low-risk victims who now are
00:16:29
missing. Something terrible likely
00:16:31
happened to them.
00:16:32
>> [music]
00:16:33
>> And to help them develop media releases
00:16:35
that will hopefully get the good tips,
00:16:37
to look more into the background.
00:16:41
>> A closer look at the Milford area
00:16:43
revealed that cases of female missing
00:16:46
persons were rather [music] uncommon.
00:16:48
Highlighting chilling similarities
00:16:50
between the Urban sisters and Kami
00:16:53
Viaduct Weaver.
00:16:55
>> It must have begun to strike the
00:16:57
authorities
00:16:59
that the disappearance of three high
00:17:01
school girls
00:17:03
within a period of literally [music]
00:17:06
three weeks was quite unusual.
00:17:10
>> They lived in a very rural area,
00:17:13
very sparsely populated. Crime was
00:17:18
almost non-existent up there.
00:17:21
>> All of a sudden we had something pop up
00:17:24
here in Oakland County primarily. In
00:17:27
fact, in the Milford area. And I grew up
00:17:29
there, so I knew that the area did not
00:17:31
have a whole lot of crime, particularly
00:17:32
involving missing teenage [music] girls.
00:17:38
Something came into this area
00:17:40
and likely was connected to all of these
00:17:42
victims and we needed to find out who
00:17:44
that was.
00:17:48
>> Just 1 year before the teenagers went
00:17:51
missing from [music] Oakland County,
00:17:53
37-year-old Leslie Allen Williams had
00:17:56
been granted early release from prison
00:17:58
after serving just 6 years of a maximum
00:18:02
30-year sentence for attempted
00:18:04
kidnapping and sexual assault.
00:18:08
>> He was released very quickly in 1990.
00:18:12
He was surprised to be paroled that
00:18:15
early.
00:18:17
>> His first residence was in Wayne County,
00:18:19
[music]
00:18:20
Michigan.
00:18:22
The parole officer that he saw there
00:18:25
said that Williams complied with
00:18:27
everything that was required of him.
00:18:29
>> He was checking [music] off the boxes.
00:18:31
He was working a job and then he was
00:18:33
providing proof that he was working a
00:18:35
job. He was showing them his check
00:18:37
stubs. [music]
00:18:38
He was reporting in regularly.
00:18:41
>> He was engaged in counseling.
00:18:45
He moved to Oakland County.
00:18:48
His parole agent changed.
00:18:50
So once again,
00:18:52
new eyes
00:18:54
looking at him,
00:18:56
but he was still complying with the
00:18:57
requirements that the parole board had
00:18:59
set for him.
00:19:02
>> His parole officers over the years
00:19:05
considered him what they called a model
00:19:07
parolee. He seemed to be doing
00:19:09
everything that he was expected to do.
00:19:12
>> He caused no trouble. He attracted no
00:19:15
attention.
00:19:16
In fact, I think one parole officer said
00:19:19
that he was ideal to deal with.
00:19:22
>> As Williams was settling into a new life
00:19:25
seemingly on the straight and narrow,
00:19:27
Oakland County police were still baffled
00:19:30
as to the whereabouts of 18-year-old
00:19:32
Kami Villanueva and teenage sisters
00:19:35
Michelle and Melissa Urban.
00:19:38
But before police could begin to connect
00:19:41
the dots, another teenage girl
00:19:44
would vanish into thin air.
00:19:55
On January the 4th, 1992,
00:19:58
15-year-old schoolgirl Cynthia Jones
00:20:01
>> [music]
00:20:01
>> was hanging out with her 16-year-old
00:20:03
boyfriend in his car at Central Park in
00:20:07
Milford.
00:20:09
>> She was an archetypal high school girl.
00:20:12
She was an honor student. She was a
00:20:14
cheerleader. She was cheerful. She was
00:20:17
very much happy with her boyfriend.
00:20:20
>> They were in the car and while they were
00:20:22
sitting there in the car, this man ran
00:20:25
up to them in a ski mask.
00:20:29
And tells them he has to have the car.
00:20:31
Get out of the car. I need the car.
00:20:34
He gives them a story that he just
00:20:35
robbed a place. And so he forces them
00:20:38
out of the car.
00:20:40
>> You can imagine they were very
00:20:41
frightened.
00:20:42
And he marches the couple into a nearby
00:20:45
wooded area
00:20:47
where he proceeds to tie up the
00:20:49
boyfriend to one of the trees.
00:20:53
The boyfriend tries to escape
00:20:55
but the man with the ski mask ushers
00:20:59
Cindy
00:21:01
into a wood not far away. And it's the
00:21:03
last the boyfriend [music] ever sees of
00:21:05
her.
00:21:08
>> Just minutes later, the boyfriend freed
00:21:10
himself from his restraints and called
00:21:13
the police.
00:21:15
They searched the entire park, but
00:21:17
despite their best efforts, they were
00:21:20
unable to find any clues to Cynthia's
00:21:22
whereabouts
00:21:24
nor the identity of her abductor.
00:21:29
>> Her boyfriend was not able to identify
00:21:31
him because his identity was obscured,
00:21:33
but still at least her boyfriend was
00:21:36
able to report this to police so they
00:21:39
knew that Cindy had been abducted.
00:21:43
>> But the lack of details on the assailant
00:21:46
>> [music]
00:21:46
>> meant the police were struggling to find
00:21:48
the teenage couple's attacker.
00:21:51
>> Predators are really difficult to
00:21:54
identify and to capture. And there's
00:21:57
quite a few reasons for that. The
00:21:59
biggest one obviously being that they
00:22:02
rarely have any relationship
00:22:06
to the person that they've assaulted.
00:22:08
Nothing that links them in any way.
00:22:13
Police have to start from a position of
00:22:15
there's 30,000 people that live in this
00:22:17
area. It could be any one of them. They
00:22:19
have to go on
00:22:21
other
00:22:22
motivations, forms of evidence,
00:22:24
identifying suspects.
00:22:28
>> As a result, police had to consider one
00:22:31
potential suspect.
00:22:34
>> Because of the odd circumstances,
00:22:37
the boyfriend, he was thought to be a
00:22:39
suspect
00:22:41
for the longest time.
00:22:43
>> [music]
00:22:44
>> Was he trying to cover up the fact that
00:22:46
she'd run away? Was he trying to cover
00:22:49
up even worse that he'd killed her and
00:22:51
hidden her body?
00:22:53
>> Police could find absolutely no evidence
00:22:56
to suggest Cynthia's boyfriend was
00:22:58
involved in her disappearance and he was
00:23:01
officially ruled out as a suspect 6 days
00:23:04
later.
00:23:06
>> The 16-year-old boyfriend
00:23:08
was traumatized by this experience. How
00:23:10
could he not have been? He's watched the
00:23:12
girl he was
00:23:13
>> [music]
00:23:13
>> falling in love with being escorted away
00:23:15
by a masked man. He's left tied to a
00:23:18
tree, and then he's suspected of
00:23:19
Cynthia's abduction.
00:23:21
It is something that would be very, very
00:23:23
difficult to recover from.
00:23:26
>> With their only suspect eliminated from
00:23:29
the inquiry, police were no closer to
00:23:32
finding Cynthia's true kidnapper.
00:23:38
>> Four missing girls that turn up in the
00:23:41
span of a few months from September 1991
00:23:44
to January 1992, and you have [music]
00:23:46
three different police departments that
00:23:49
are investigating their disappearance.
00:23:53
>> They were at cross-jurisdictional
00:23:55
boundaries where the communication
00:23:58
wasn't always there.
00:24:00
This was at a time before
00:24:02
there were yellow alerts, which in the
00:24:05
United States [music] and in Michigan,
00:24:08
when there are missing juveniles,
00:24:10
there are alerts sent out over cell
00:24:13
phones telling people, "Watch for these
00:24:16
people. They're missing. They may be
00:24:18
endangered."
00:24:19
But there was no indication at that time
00:24:22
that they were connected.
00:24:25
>> The luck of the police would soon
00:24:28
change.
00:24:32
Over 4 months later, on May the 24th,
00:24:36
1992,
00:24:37
Oakland County's Deputy Sheriff was
00:24:40
taking a traffic accident report in
00:24:42
Springfield Township when a panicked man
00:24:45
approached and told him about an attack
00:24:48
that was happening in a nearby cemetery.
00:24:51
>> He's there to visit his dad's grave.
00:24:54
He pulls up in his car, and there's
00:24:56
another vehicle sitting there in the way
00:24:58
blocking his path, and one of the doors
00:25:01
of the car is open, but the car is
00:25:02
empty.
00:25:05
He looks off in the distance, and he
00:25:06
sees this man
00:25:08
that appears to be assaulting this
00:25:10
woman.
00:25:13
And meanwhile, this man looks over and
00:25:15
sees this guy notice him.
00:25:18
And that's when he says,
00:25:20
"Leave us alone. We're just having sex."
00:25:24
This witness was knowing that was not
00:25:26
the case. They were both fully clothed
00:25:28
for one thing, and this did not appear
00:25:30
to be a sexual situation. This seemed to
00:25:32
be a violent assault.
00:25:35
>> The woman is clearly being attacked,
00:25:38
and
00:25:39
the passerby goes and finds a traffic
00:25:42
policeman who's not far away.
00:25:44
The policeman comes back.
00:25:47
>> He was speeding out of the cemetery as
00:25:49
the cop was coming in, and the cop
00:25:51
realized, "Okay, that's the guy." And
00:25:53
chased him. And this started a little
00:25:55
bit of a harrowing car chase that was
00:25:59
also a foot chase cuz at one point this
00:26:02
man wrecked his car and got out on foot
00:26:05
and tried to get away.
00:26:07
>> After an intense chase, police were able
00:26:10
to capture their assailant, and they
00:26:12
were shocked to learn that this wasn't
00:26:15
their suspect's first time in handcuffs.
00:26:18
He revealed himself as 38-year-old
00:26:21
seasoned criminal Leslie Allen Williams.
00:26:25
Williams is slightly shamefaced, but
00:26:28
nevertheless is arrested
00:26:31
on suspicion of the attack on the woman
00:26:33
in the cemetery.
00:26:34
But then announces to the officer
00:26:37
that actually the woman he was attacking
00:26:40
is in the boot of his car, and she won't
00:26:42
be able to breathe for very long as
00:26:44
she's in there.
00:26:47
>> She was near death, I believe, because
00:26:50
she was being asphyxiated by some sort
00:26:53
of device around her neck.
00:26:56
>> Williams had placed her in the trunk
00:26:58
reportedly with one of his plastic ties
00:27:01
that he liked to use around her [music]
00:27:03
neck. And so, the police officer was
00:27:05
able to get into the trunk and get to
00:27:08
her right before
00:27:11
anything terrible happened and rescue
00:27:13
her.
00:27:18
>> The police officer reached the woman
00:27:20
just in time and she was quickly
00:27:22
transported to hospital where she made a
00:27:25
full recovery.
00:27:28
With the victim safe, the focus shifted
00:27:31
to questioning her attacker.
00:27:33
>> Williams was arrested,
00:27:35
taken into police custody.
00:27:38
And as they were talking to him, he
00:27:40
really wasn't giving much up.
00:27:44
>> Because of looking at his criminal
00:27:46
history
00:27:48
and past,
00:27:50
that uh further investigation was done.
00:27:53
There was a search warrant
00:27:56
that was executed at his home.
00:28:00
>> They found plastic zip ties.
00:28:02
They found the shovel in his car, too.
00:28:04
So, they knew there was something more
00:28:06
to this guy than just trying to attack
00:28:09
somebody in a cemetery.
00:28:11
And when they searched his house, they
00:28:14
found a ring.
00:28:17
>> That ring belonged to none other than
00:28:19
the missing 18-year-old Cammie
00:28:22
Villanueva.
00:28:24
Suspecting Williams may be involved in
00:28:27
Cammie's disappearance, they made
00:28:29
contact with his ex-girlfriend to find
00:28:32
out more about the man they had in
00:28:34
custody.
00:28:36
And what she had to say filled them with
00:28:39
dread.
00:28:41
>> She told police how she had during their
00:28:44
relationship given Williams a kitten to
00:28:47
take care of. And Williams told her
00:28:49
later that he killed the kitten
00:28:51
for whatever reason, who knows. But he
00:28:54
also buried the kitten. And so police
00:28:56
were very interested.
00:28:58
>> Williams' ex-girlfriend gave police the
00:29:01
location of the burial site. And on a
00:29:04
hunch that Williams might have revisited
00:29:06
a place he already knew, they headed
00:29:09
straight for it.
00:29:11
>> They started digging and they realized
00:29:13
that they were about to discover Cammie
00:29:16
[music]
00:29:16
Villanueva.
00:29:21
>> Once presented with the overwhelming
00:29:23
evidence, Williams had no choice but to
00:29:26
confess to Cammie's murder.
00:29:29
And what he revealed next added a
00:29:32
disturbing twist.
00:29:35
>> When he was on parole from prison in
00:29:37
1990,
00:29:39
>> [music]
00:29:39
>> he worked in a gas station.
00:29:42
And another girl who worked in the gas
00:29:43
station
00:29:45
had a sister called Cammie Villanueva.
00:29:50
>> Williams would actually see Cammie
00:29:52
coming to the gas station where he
00:29:55
worked. He was aware of where they lived
00:29:57
and what their [music] habits were.
00:29:59
>> Absolutely Williams' cup of tea.
00:30:03
And so when he gets out of jail,
00:30:05
one of the first people he targets is
00:30:09
Cammie Villanueva.
00:30:12
>> Cammie was home alone. She was in her
00:30:15
bedroom. She was sitting there playing
00:30:18
solitaire with a deck of cards.
00:30:20
>> Williams told investigators that after
00:30:23
donning a ski mask in a bid to disguise
00:30:26
himself, he approached the home of
00:30:28
Cammie Villanueva armed with a pocket
00:30:31
knife.
00:30:33
>> He realized that her door was unlocked.
00:30:37
He came inside. He abducted her.
00:30:42
He forced her into his car. He took her
00:30:45
to another location.
00:30:48
>> Williams takes her to a cemetery not
00:30:50
very far away
00:30:52
where he proceeds to uh
00:30:54
rape her and to kill her.
00:30:57
>> His method was strangulation, which is
00:30:58
very common among killers because it's
00:31:00
up close and personal.
00:31:03
You get an opportunity to, you know,
00:31:04
interact with your victim and control
00:31:06
their life. That's the ultimate exercise
00:31:09
of power.
00:31:10
And I think that that's what he did.
00:31:14
>> He actually dug a shallow grave
00:31:16
in a field
00:31:19
and buried her.
00:31:21
Only to revisit her months later.
00:31:25
>> There were reports that Williams had dug
00:31:29
up and had sex with the body. So,
00:31:32
there's some kind of necrophilia going
00:31:33
on here.
00:31:36
>> That is not unheard of with killers.
00:31:39
They will, if they can, revisit
00:31:43
a body again to get that emotional
00:31:48
moment, [music] relive it, maybe
00:31:51
re-assault
00:31:53
the victim.
00:31:55
>> How could somebody come back and the
00:31:56
smell is terrible and the it's, you
00:31:58
know, condition of the body is bad? How
00:32:00
could they do that? But we're talking
00:32:02
about people who are wired differently.
00:32:05
The going back allows him to relive that
00:32:07
whole event over and over again.
00:32:11
>> Leslie Allen Williams had confessed to
00:32:14
the murder of Cammy Villanueva, and he
00:32:17
hadn't finished yet.
00:32:19
As he continued to talk, the 38-year-old
00:32:23
would reveal even more disturbing
00:32:25
information that would leave detectives
00:32:29
horrified.
00:32:38
On the evening of May the 27th, 1992,
00:32:42
in the Oakland County Sheriff's Office,
00:32:45
38-year-old Leslie Allen Williams had
00:32:48
confessed to raping and killing
00:32:50
18-year-old Kami Viən Weaver 8 months
00:32:53
earlier.
00:32:56
What began as a single admission soon
00:32:58
snowballed into a cascade of
00:33:01
confessions.
00:33:04
>> When Williams was interviewed by the
00:33:06
Sheriff's deputies
00:33:08
and began telling about Kami, he also
00:33:11
admitted to the kidnapping and murder of
00:33:14
the Urban sisters.
00:33:17
>> The two teenage sisters, 16-year-old
00:33:20
Michelle and 14-year-old Melissa Urban,
00:33:23
had gone missing on September the 29th,
00:33:26
1991,
00:33:28
after going out for a walk.
00:33:30
It had been a cold case for 8 months
00:33:34
until now.
00:33:36
>> At that point, the state police in
00:33:38
Brighton was contacted. Our detective
00:33:41
bureau was activated. We're able to take
00:33:44
Williams into our custody
00:33:48
and interview him.
00:33:50
>> Williams admitted he'd been watching the
00:33:52
Urban sisters for several days.
00:33:56
>> The reason he was up in that area
00:33:59
stalking people was because he was
00:34:01
court-ordered to see a
00:34:04
psychotherapist
00:34:06
who was
00:34:09
just miles away from where the Urban
00:34:10
sisters lived.
00:34:14
>> They went out for a walk near their home
00:34:17
in that remote area
00:34:18
>> [music]
00:34:19
>> and Williams realized this. He saw them
00:34:22
and he hid in some bushes and he waited
00:34:24
for them to come up on him and he jumped
00:34:28
out.
00:34:30
>> And with a small pocket knife,
00:34:32
he threatened the girls,
00:34:34
grabbing one of them.
00:34:37
The other girl submitted to his demands,
00:34:40
fearing for her sister.
00:34:43
>> And what's more, he'd gone to the
00:34:45
lengths of taking photographs of them,
00:34:47
which he'd kept as souvenirs, which
00:34:49
again the police found in their search
00:34:51
of his house.
00:34:53
>> Taking a trophy really is about a
00:34:56
conquest. You hear the term souvenir and
00:34:58
trophy. A souvenir just means that we
00:35:00
were at some place. A trophy means that
00:35:03
we won. We conquered something. And so
00:35:06
taking those things allows him to relive
00:35:08
those events over and over again.
00:35:12
>> He first tried to completely
00:35:15
incapacitate them with starter fluid,
00:35:18
much like an ether, to put them to
00:35:20
sleep,
00:35:21
and suffocated them.
00:35:27
>> After killing the two girls, Williams
00:35:30
told detectives that he drove 4 miles to
00:35:32
the outskirts of Fenton, Michigan, where
00:35:35
he callously buried the teenage sisters,
00:35:38
once again digging a shallow grave in a
00:35:41
nearby cemetery.
00:35:44
>> He covered the Arbin sisters with
00:35:47
blankets, and that quite possibly was to
00:35:50
protect the bodies from
00:35:53
the earth and and everything around them
00:35:55
to perhaps keep them
00:35:57
in a better state for a longer time.
00:36:02
He didn't bury them deep enough that he
00:36:05
couldn't get access to them.
00:36:09
>> Williams also revealed his cruel final
00:36:12
words to the terrified young sisters.
00:36:16
>> He told [music] them that he would let
00:36:18
them go.
00:36:20
He told them that if they just did what
00:36:22
he said,
00:36:23
>> [music]
00:36:24
>> they'd be okay. He'd release them. And I
00:36:26
think that makes it way worse.
00:36:30
>> In police custody, Williams had
00:36:32
confessed to three murders, but he
00:36:35
didn't stop there.
00:36:36
Detectives were about to discover one
00:36:39
final victim.
00:36:41
15-year-old schoolgirl Cynthia Jones,
00:36:44
who was abducted whilst on a date with
00:36:47
her boyfriend [music] in Central Park in
00:36:49
Milford.
00:36:51
>> He took Cindy in his car and like with
00:36:55
the other victims, he raped her.
00:36:58
He did change his MO a little bit
00:37:01
though.
00:37:02
He had strangled Kimmie Villanueva.
00:37:05
He had suffocated the two girls, but
00:37:08
then with Cynthia Jones, he actually
00:37:11
stabbed her in the chest with his knife
00:37:14
and buried her in a shallow grave.
00:37:18
>> Now, that could be many reasons for
00:37:21
that. It It could be that uh she got out
00:37:24
of his control.
00:37:25
It could be that he needed to do [music]
00:37:28
it very quickly and efficiently and to
00:37:32
strangle someone takes longer
00:37:35
potentially than stabbing someone.
00:37:38
>> After confessing [music] to the murders
00:37:41
of the four teenagers, Williams made one
00:37:44
final deal with police.
00:37:47
>> When they were able to obtain
00:37:49
confessions from Williams, he agreed to
00:37:52
take them to where the other girls the
00:37:54
three other girls were buried. So, that
00:37:56
was up to the cemetery in Fenton where
00:37:58
the urban girls were buried and then
00:38:01
that was to the other part of Bruno Road
00:38:03
where Cindy Jones was buried.
00:38:07
>> I think Williams confessing was for his
00:38:10
own benefit and absolutely nobody else's
00:38:12
benefit whatsoever. If he says, "Look, I
00:38:15
can help you find more bodies and see
00:38:18
what a great guy I am and see how
00:38:20
sincere I am because this might help
00:38:24
with him making arguments that he wants
00:38:27
to change or that he feels remorse or
00:38:31
guilt or shame.
00:38:33
>> With an overwhelming amount of evidence
00:38:35
in front of him, including photographs
00:38:38
of the Urban sisters,
00:38:40
Kami Vianueva's ring, and the bodies,
00:38:43
Williams decided to plead guilty to all
00:38:46
four murders at the Oakland County Court
00:38:49
on June the 3rd, 1992.
00:38:53
>> He said something to the effect that he
00:38:55
just wanted to save [music] the
00:38:56
taxpayers the expense and save everybody
00:38:59
the grief, save the victim family
00:39:01
members the grief of going through a
00:39:03
trial. So, it was pretty quick that he
00:39:06
was sentenced. He was arrested in May
00:39:07
1992 and he was sentenced to everything
00:39:10
in July 1992 [music]
00:39:12
without a trial.
00:39:16
>> In Michigan, the punishment for
00:39:19
first-degree murder, capital murder,
00:39:21
is mandatory life in prison without
00:39:24
parole.
00:39:25
Kidnapping [music] in Michigan also
00:39:27
carries
00:39:28
a life sentence.
00:39:32
>> On July the 7th, 1992,
00:39:35
Williams was sentenced to life without
00:39:37
parole for the murder of Cynthia Jones.
00:39:40
Later that day, he was given four
00:39:42
consecutive life terms for kidnapping,
00:39:45
attempted murder, and the attempted rape
00:39:47
of the woman at the Springfield Township
00:39:50
Cemetery.
00:39:52
Williams was also sentenced to life for
00:39:55
Kami's murder on September the 24th and
00:39:58
for the Urban sisters murder on October
00:40:00
the 5th.
00:40:03
>> Cindy's mother was horrified
00:40:07
by the fact that her daughter had been
00:40:09
killed
00:40:11
by a man who'd been let out of prison
00:40:13
when he shouldn't have been.
00:40:15
Unfortunately, it's a plea we hear so
00:40:17
often from the victims of crime,
00:40:20
particularly violent murder.
00:40:23
>> I think Leslie Allen Williams represents
00:40:25
a failure of the entire criminal justice
00:40:27
system, particularly the parole system.
00:40:29
Leslie Allen Williams never should have
00:40:31
been on the street.
00:40:32
And there's four young ladies that are
00:40:34
dead because of that.
00:40:36
>> When he was serving a 30-year sentence
00:40:39
[music] back in 1983 for kidnap and
00:40:42
sexual assault, Williams' prison
00:40:44
psychiatrist wrote in her [music] report
00:40:47
that she felt he was making good
00:40:49
progress and was eligible for
00:40:52
rehabilitation.
00:40:55
>> The year that Williams was released from
00:40:57
prison on parole, there were, I believe,
00:41:01
11,000 people
00:41:04
in Michigan that went before the parole
00:41:06
board.
00:41:07
The parole board released almost 9,000
00:41:11
of those people on parole.
00:41:14
Subsequent to Williams'
00:41:16
>> [music]
00:41:16
>> convictions and sentencing,
00:41:20
the parents of Michelle and Melissa
00:41:22
Urban
00:41:23
were instrumental
00:41:26
in making changes
00:41:29
to the way the parole board in Michigan
00:41:31
reviews people
00:41:33
and releases people.
00:41:36
>> There was legislation enacted later in
00:41:38
1992, as I understand, to reform
00:41:42
Michigan's parole system. So, I guess
00:41:44
you could say that that's something that
00:41:46
hopefully is good that has come out of
00:41:47
the [music] case.
00:41:50
>> And it wasn't just the families that
00:41:52
were impacted by these tragic killings.
00:41:56
>> Now, I'll tell you, you know, people who
00:41:58
work on a serial killer case
00:42:01
never want to do that again. It is so
00:42:03
physically and emotionally draining
00:42:06
that, you know, it affects their family
00:42:08
life because they're spending more time
00:42:09
on the case.
00:42:11
Uh, and you know, there's a lot of
00:42:12
pressure from the media, from the
00:42:14
public, from you know, your boss to
00:42:16
solve these cases.
00:42:17
>> [music]
00:42:17
>> And while you do feel good that we
00:42:19
caught the guy, it's something that they
00:42:21
really don't want to have to go through
00:42:23
again.
00:42:26
>> My department, the Michigan State
00:42:27
Police, [music]
00:42:29
have counselors and psychologists on
00:42:31
staff
00:42:32
because they know of the toll
00:42:35
that investigations can have.
00:42:40
I personally feel there is no such thing
00:42:41
as justice in a case like this.
00:42:44
The girls will never be brought back.
00:42:47
The only thing we have is the knowledge
00:42:51
that Williams will never be able to do
00:42:53
this again.
00:42:55
And so that the other young women out
00:42:57
there
00:42:58
will be safe.
00:43:04
>> The decision to release Leslie Allen
00:43:07
Williams early proved to be
00:43:09
catastrophic.
00:43:11
He was a dangerous seasoned criminal
00:43:13
whose frequent appearances in and out of
00:43:16
prison didn't deter him from taking the
00:43:19
lives of Kami Vie Weaver, sisters
00:43:22
Michelle and Melissa Urban, and
00:43:24
15-year-old Cynthia Jones in the space
00:43:27
of just 9 months. This undoubtedly makes
00:43:30
Leslie Allen Williams one of the world's
00:43:33
most evil killers.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most dramatic
  • 80
    Most surprising

Episode Highlights

  • Leslie Allen Williams: A Grieving Man's Discovery
    A man visiting his father's grave witnesses a woman being assaulted, leading to a police chase and the capture of Leslie Allen Williams, a serial killer.
    “But something disturbing caught his eye.”
    @ 00m 15s
    June 12, 2026
  • The Horrific Confession
    Leslie Allen Williams confesses to the murders of four teenage girls, revealing his chilling lack of emotion.
    “It was like he was ordering a cup of coffee.”
    @ 01m 19s
    June 12, 2026
  • A Troubled Upbringing
    Leslie Allen Williams' childhood was marked by violence and instability, shaping his future criminal behavior.
    “It’s hard to imagine a worse upbringing.”
    @ 06m 43s
    June 12, 2026
  • The Disappearance of Young Girls
    In a span of months, four teenage girls go missing in Michigan, raising alarm in the community.
    “Four missing girls that turn up in the span of a few months.”
    @ 23m 41s
    June 12, 2026
  • A Shocking Discovery
    Police discover a woman in the trunk of a car, barely alive.
    “She was near death, I believe, because she was being asphyxiated.”
    @ 26m 50s
    June 12, 2026
  • Confession of a Killer
    Leslie Allen Williams confesses to multiple murders, revealing chilling details.
    “I think Leslie Allen Williams represents a failure of the entire criminal justice system.”
    @ 40m 25s
    June 12, 2026
  • Legislative Changes
    The Urban sisters' parents push for reforms in Michigan's parole system after the murders.
    @ 41m 22s
    June 12, 2026

Episode Quotes

  • He told them that if they just did what he said, they’d be okay.
    Leslie Allen Williams | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He was a model prisoner.
    Leslie Allen Williams | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • He was polite, that somehow that meant he wasn’t dangerous.
    Leslie Allen Williams | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • Leave us alone. We’re just having sex.
    Leslie Allen Williams | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • She was near death, I believe, because she was being asphyxiated.
    Leslie Allen Williams | World’s Most Evil Killers
  • I think Leslie Allen Williams represents a failure of the entire criminal justice system.
    Leslie Allen Williams | World’s Most Evil Killers

Key Moments

  • Assault Witnessed00:22
  • Confession01:10
  • Parole Controversy03:08
  • Investigation Begins16:04
  • Connection Found17:44
  • Harrowing Chase25:53
  • Victim Rescued27:13
  • Legislative Reform41:22

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

Related Episodes

The Self-Proclaimed Serial Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
July 11, 2024
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
43:15
The Self-Proclaimed Serial Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers
June 20, 2024
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
44:13
Hiding in Plain Sight: John Eric Armstrong | World’s Most Evil Killers
The Doorstep Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
January 30, 2023
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
44:01
The Doorstep Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
The Weepy Voiced Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
January 26, 2023
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
43:39
The Weepy Voiced Killer | World's Most Evil Killers
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 4, Episode 23 - Full Episode
May 22, 2019
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
47:43
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 4, Episode 23 - Full Episode
Billy Mansfield Jr. | World’s Most Evil Killers
July 16, 2024
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
42:36
Billy Mansfield Jr. | World’s Most Evil Killers
Ex-Disneyland Employee Turned Serial Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
June 25, 2024
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
43:22
Ex-Disneyland Employee Turned Serial Killer | World’s Most Evil Killers
A House of Horrors: Stewart Weldon | Making A Serial Killer
November 17, 2024
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
43:18
A House of Horrors: Stewart Weldon | Making A Serial Killer
The Shocking Murder of Mo Wilson | Killers Caught On Camera
June 05, 2025
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
47:01
The Shocking Murder of Mo Wilson | Killers Caught On Camera
Convicted Killer RELEASED From Prison | World’s Most Evil Killers
September 13, 2024
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
44:23
Convicted Killer RELEASED From Prison | World’s Most Evil Killers
Jason Scott’s Secret Life | Making A Serial Killer
November 14, 2024
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
43:26
Jason Scott’s Secret Life | Making A Serial Killer
Forensic Files - Season 2, Episode 1 - The Common Thread - (In HD)
September 18, 2025
Captions not detected. You can watch the video, but not search it. If you think this is an error, contact support.
21:46
Forensic Files - Season 2, Episode 1 - The Common Thread - (In HD)