00:00:13
It was one shot,
one bullet, one cartridge case, one firearm. NARRATOR: A couple drawn
together by sex and money.
00:00:21
For her, it was about money. For him, it was
probably about the sex. NARRATOR: Detectives
untangle a web of fantasies
00:00:28
and deceit to uncover
the truth of a marriage. She had lied so many
times that you practically
00:00:35
picked up the paper,
and said, OK, what lie is she's going to say today. NARRATOR: As police raced to
the home of Michele Williams
00:00:49
was she about to become an
innocent grieving widow, or was she lying about an armed
man attacking her husband.
00:00:57
[music playing] NARRATOR: Gregg and
Michele Williams relationship was sexually
charged from the very start.
00:01:27
As I understand they
met in a swingers club. He was with his
brother Michael, and Michael says
Michele was openly
00:01:38
performing sexual acts in
public right there in the club. NARRATOR: Michele and
Gregg both had complicated
00:01:45
emotional backgrounds. Gregg and Michele
meet in 2007. They're both in their late
30s both twice divorced,
00:01:52
both have children. Michele has three, Gregg
has a daughter who's about 10-years-old at the time.
00:02:00
NARRATOR: But that's
where the similarities in their back stories end. Gregg is this
successful businessman.
00:02:06
He's a brilliant
computer engineer, and he's built this
successful business. He netted $500,000 take home.
00:02:14
He was great at
running a business, and bringing in the funds. And when he's not
working he's working out.
00:02:21
He's a bodybuilder, and he
also loves martial arts. Michele was not perhaps
such a driven personality,
00:02:28
and her path in life
had rarely been smooth. Michele had a
similarly troubled past.
00:02:34
She had gotten pregnant
really early in her teens. She had a child at the age of
17 then another one at the age
00:02:40
of 24 different fathers. She's paying the bills
by working as a stripper. One of her sons says
he thinks that she
00:02:48
was actually working as
a prostitute in there at the same time. She didn't really
have one career
00:02:53
that she necessarily dedicated
herself to with a larger goal. She worked as a sex worker,
she slept with different men,
00:03:00
and she really just seemed
to basically be drifting through life in many ways. NARRATOR: Forensic
psychologist Dr. Judy Ho
00:03:08
believes that Michele
in her late 30s by the time she
meets Gregg could have been ready to settle down.
00:03:14
Because she was floating
through life in many ways perhaps she saw
Gregg as a chance
00:03:19
for finally some grounding,
finally a secure base. Somebody that she
could count on.
00:03:24
Seemed like it was her ticket
to get him on to a better life, and it seemed this
was the answer for her
00:03:37
in being able to raise a
family, have a great home. And not have any
other worries she had
00:03:47
found the answer to the dream. For her, it was about money. For him, it was
probably about the sex.
00:03:54
I mean, she was
a beautiful woman once she got all dressed up. NARRATOR: Whatever
their motivations
00:04:02
the attraction was immediate
the relationship whirlwind. In 2007 within a couple
of months of meeting
00:04:09
the couple tied the knot. There was dismay on
both sides of the family about this quickie wedding.
00:04:15
Michele sons
couldn't stand Gregg, and Gregg's family wasn't so
sure about Michele either.
00:04:22
NARRATOR: Gregg's family
saw Michele as a sexually promiscuous gold digger. Michele's army vet sons thought
Gregg was an arrogant bully.
00:04:30
If the couple were hurt
by all of this animosity it didn't stop them. Perhaps even despite their
problems they are saying nope
00:04:37
this is a choice that I've made
I'm committing to this person, and I'm not going to
listen to the naysayers.
00:04:42
And so sometimes it
actually produces a superficial
commitment to the person that everybody doesn't
like because you
00:04:48
want to prove them wrong. Shortly after the
marriage Gregg and Michele had a little baby
daughter together.
00:04:55
NARRATOR: She was
Gregg's second daughter. The presence of his
first daughter Taylor
00:05:00
was not as welcome in the
life of Michele Williams. Michele didn't seem to get
along with Gregg's daughter
00:05:09
Taylor, and at the
age of 12 Michele blamed Taylor for drugging her. She accuses her of
trying to drug both her,
00:05:20
and their little baby daughter. So Michele winds up
spending several days in the hospital for an
overdose of anti-depressants
00:05:29
and narcotics. NARRATOR: Jealous of the
close relationship Gregg had with his first child
Michele claimed Taylor had
00:05:35
slipped drugs into her coffee. It was an outright lie,
but Michele managed to convince Gregg that
his 12-year-old daughter
00:05:43
had an addiction to prescription
painkillers also not true. For whatever
reason Gregg seemed
00:05:49
to believe whatever
Michele said, and he actually send
Taylor off to drug rehab.
00:05:56
It was an early warning sign
that Michele Williams could be ruthless when it came
to getting rid of those
00:06:00
that she saw as obstacles. Well, she saw people
as transactional, she saw relationships
as transactional.
00:06:07
So once she wasn't getting the
benefits from a relationship she was apt to move on instead
of trying to solve the problem.
00:06:12
Perhaps even simple problems
that could have been easily resolved if you just
communicated with the person,
00:06:16
but she seems like
she's easily disposing of the various people in
her life, various projects
00:06:21
in their lives. NARRATOR: To those outside
of these domestic dramas the Williams looked like
a happy family unit.
00:06:27
You had the all-American
family living in the suburbs, doing very well financially.
00:06:34
It's the lifestyle everybody
dreams that they have. So Gregg and Michele are
living what seems to be
00:06:42
this wonderful life of luxury. They have matching
Mercedes and a garage. They're living in
a gated community
00:06:49
in this beautiful $800,000
McMansion in Keller, Texas, which is a suburb of Fort Worth.
00:06:57
The Williams were
living in a community that was thought to be safe. It was a neighborhood where
you would raise your family.
00:07:07
NARRATOR: Journalist
Domingo Ramirez had only positive stories about
Gregg from those who knew him.
00:07:13
We heard from
friends and family of a man of a good family. He was just always
tending to his family.
00:07:24
He's working so he actually
buys her a yogurt shop, so she has something to do while
he's working these long hours.
00:07:31
NARRATOR: In early
2011 Michele had begged Gregg to buy her
Blueberries a frozen yogurt
00:07:36
store in Keller. A surprise to forensic
financial analyst Jeannette Hanna who
would one day scrutinize
00:07:43
the couple's accounts. It like was a toy for her, and
it's really hard to understand
00:07:51
why she even had the yogurt
shop because she didn't really have a business
background, and she
00:07:56
wasn't there running it daily. NARRATOR: Michele
had discovered there were better things to do with
her time than run a business.
00:08:03
Michele was burning
through the cash, and using the credit cards
doing exorbitant spending,
00:08:11
going shopping
whenever she wanted to, buying designer
purses and clothes. They had matching Mercedes-Benz
that they were leasing
00:08:21
they didn't even own them. So she just had a lifestyle
where she had no budget. She could just do
whatever she wanted
00:08:29
to whenever she wanted to. Four years into her marriage
to Gregg Michele Williams
00:08:36
was living a life that
he was paying for, and neither could afford. A recipe for trouble, but
how much no one could know.
00:08:45
Now she's saying my daughter
and I were asleep on the couch, and Gregg shot himself.
00:08:55
The Blueberries yogurt
shop was purchased in May for $110,000,
and it was sold right
00:09:03
after the murder for $45,000. NARRATOR: October 13th,
2011 4:40 in the morning, and the marriage of Michele and
Gregg Williams ended violently.
00:09:31
The voice of Michele
Williams calling from the family's four bedroom
home on Jacob Avenue in Keller.
00:09:39
Michele also told 911 that
she believed the intruder was still in the home. They arrive at the
Williams residence
00:09:53
to find Michele at the
front door she's sobbing. She has a large lump on
the side of her head,
00:09:58
and she says her
husband he's dead. Police for obviously wanted
to find out if the intruder
00:10:06
was still in the home. NARRATOR: Entering the
house with caution officers find the couple's four-year-old
daughter still fast
00:10:12
asleep on the couch. The officers searched
the home cleared the home. They checked the inside of the
house, outside, and the back,
00:10:20
and found out that there
was no intruder at the home. NARRATOR: They found
40-year-old Gregg Williams lying
00:10:26
dead in the master bedroom blood
running from a single bullet wound in his right temple.
00:10:31
In between sobs and screams
Michele tells officers a story. Michele told the investigators
that she was asleep
00:10:39
on the sofa with her daughter. And her husband was
sleeping in the bedroom when she hears a noise, and
she goes to inspect she says
00:10:46
she goes back into the bedroom. And she thinks she sees
this dark clad figure then
00:10:53
all of a sudden she's hit on the
head by someone or something, and she goes unconscious.
00:11:00
Michele says when she
regained consciousness she looked up, and found her
husband shot dead in the bed.
00:11:05
- NARRATOR: Former homicide
Detective Rod Demery. The only information that
Michele was able to provide
00:11:12
police as far as description,
or who it may have been was that it was a
male in dark clothing.
00:11:17
So this is the story the
police are checking out, and they do a full
inspection on the house.
00:11:22
NARRATOR: Would the evidence
support Michele Williams claim that an unknown intruder
had knocked her out cold,
00:11:28
and then executed her husband. As police looked
around the perimeter they couldn't find any
evidence of forced entry
00:11:35
onto the property,
or into the house. Nothing's been disturbed. There's nothing that's been
knocked over or rifled through,
00:11:44
and there appears to
have been nothing taken. Initially she said that
an intruder had broken
00:11:49
in through a bedroom door. The only thing police found
was a flathead screwdriver,
00:11:57
and some scratches on the door. But the damage to
the door didn't amount to enough to
open the door or anyone
00:12:04
to actually gain entrance. NARRATOR: From the moment of the
crime being reported by Michele
00:12:09
her story struck
some as implausible. One of Michele's first
stories that we had heard
00:12:14
was that it was a home invasion,
and that just didn't ring true to me because that
meant the intruder had
00:12:22
to break in through the
patio door of the bedroom. And then go find Gregg's
pistol in his nightstand,
00:12:30
which was right beside
the bed on the left side. And then go back in front of
his bed to the other side,
00:12:39
and then shoot him
level through the head. Why wouldn't the home
invader just shoot them
00:12:44
on the left side of the
head or in the somewhere else in his body when he was
first finding the pistol.
00:12:50
That didn't make sense. NARRATOR: And if it
was a home invasion why had the perpetrator
not stolen anything.
00:12:56
$20,000 in cash lay
untouched in a safe. Any clues that the
police find struck them as odd out of place.
00:13:05
At the back door of the
bedroom leading to the back yard police find a 45 caliber
gun lying on the floor.
00:13:15
Next to it is a shell casing,
and next to it is a wrench. It's almost like it's
laid out there on display.
00:13:23
A few feet outside the door-- They found a plastic Clorox
tub that held Clorox wipes,
00:13:31
and then they realized that
all the services in the bedroom and around the house had been
wiped clean for fingerprints
00:13:38
or any DNA evidence. Now cops are
getting suspicious. This looks like
a staged robbery.
00:13:47
NARRATOR: As crime
scene officers concluded their search news
was spreading of a murder
00:13:51
in the neighborhood. It was only a few hours
after the shooting had occurred that we were notified
from Keller police
00:14:01
that they had a death
investigation going on. And that caught our attention
because we don't have
00:14:11
a lot of death
investigations in the suburbs of the Fort Worth, Dallas area. What kind of death
investigations
00:14:18
are we talking about? Are we talking about
a suicide or are we talking about a homicide.
00:14:23
What exactly are we
talking about here? NARRATOR: Questions that the
detectives were seeking answers
00:14:28
for as they interviewed the only
witness to Gregg Williams death his wife Michele not in the
frame for the murder yet.
00:14:36
Michele wasn't
a suspect, and she voluntarily went to
the police station to talk with the investigators.
00:14:42
And it's pretty routine
in a case like this they ask her to change her
clothes when she gets there
00:14:47
to the station so that
they can check her clothing for any possible evidence that
maybe something has transferred
00:14:52
from the intruder to Michele. Michele was submitted
to a gunshot residue test. Over the next
five hours police
00:15:04
continue to question Michele
because her story just isn't matching up to the
evidence that they found.
00:15:11
They ask her over and over
again tell us what happened, and her stories
changed time and again,
00:15:19
but it's still this
intruder guy in black. She was asked
seven times about whether or not what
happened, and she told them
00:15:41
the same story seven times. NARRATOR: This was the crime
that the press in Fort Worth
00:15:52
thus reported, a fatal home
invasion in an affluent suburb. I believe that it was a
front page story because we had
00:16:02
the initial report was
that an intruder had come into her a home
again, we're talking
00:16:08
about a gated community. An intruder had broken into
a home, had killed somebody,
00:16:17
and yet there was a woman and
a child who were not injured. The first story we
hear is an intruder.
00:16:31
We want to try to find out OK,
for the community's sake who was this person, give
us a description,
00:16:40
was there a car that he
drove off in a truck. What weapon could this
intruder have had.
00:16:47
There was a lot of questions
that needed to be out there quickly because of
the community's safety
00:16:52
was involved because again
we're talking of a suburb that has very little crime.
00:16:59
And here was someone
breaking into a home, and killing someone. So we had to get the information
out as quickly as possible.
00:17:08
NARRATOR: But even as
the residents of Keller came to terms with
the shocking news.
00:17:11
Michele Williams
was at Keller police department changing her story. Finally they said to her, look
Michele we have enough evidence
00:17:21
we know it's one of two things. Either you killed
your husband or he killed himself which is it?
00:17:29
And that's when Michele breaks. Now she's saying my daughter
and I were asleep on the couch,
00:17:48
and Gregg shot himself. She says that she made the story
up, and put all this evidence
00:17:57
down about the intruder
because she didn't want her daughter to know the
true story that her dad had
00:18:05
committed suicide. She says she took the
Clorox disinfecting wipes, and that she wiped
everything down.
00:18:16
She says she took the wrench,
and she hit herself on the head so it would look like
there was an intruder.
00:18:26
She said she then
wiped down the wrench, she wiped down the
handle, she wiped everything down to cover it up.
00:18:32
NARRATOR: It was an
extraordinary story at this point, detectives
had little to disprove
00:18:37
Michele's version of events. She was charged with
tampering with evidence, and released on bail.
00:18:43
Free now to tell Gregg's
family the same stories that she had told the police. Gregg was depressed,
and she says
00:18:50
that at one point
shortly before his death she'd gone into the garage. And she saw both cars
were actually warm
00:18:59
as though someone was running
in the cars in the garage like maybe he was
planning to kill himself.
00:19:04
NARRATOR: If Gregg's
family thought she was dishonest
before this story didn't seem to change their mind.
00:19:10
Gregg's family is
having a real problem believing the suicide story. Just the year before
Gregg's best friend Bryn
00:19:18
his brother-in-law
had committed suicide, and he was really angry. He said that Bryn had
destroyed the family.
00:19:25
He said it was a
chicken way of going. He was really very angry, so it
was hard to believe that Gregg
00:19:33
would do that himself. NARRATOR: In any case, once
she had left Keller police department even Michele
had trouble knowing,
00:19:40
which narrative to stick to. She started lying, and
you don't remember the lie. So you might tell your
aunt OK, it was a suicide.
00:19:49
You go over here to your
cousin no it was an intruder. So now you start talking
to all family members,
00:19:55
and you don't remember who
really you told the story to, and you can keep it straight.
00:20:02
NARRATOR: Gregg's
family were already suspicious about
the circumstances surrounding his death.
00:20:06
In the following
weeks his wife Michele repeatedly gave them cause
to question her role in it.
00:20:13
Gregg's family goes on with
the funeral arrangements, and Michele doesn't even help
the family plan the funeral.
00:20:21
And in fact Michele doesn't
even attend the funeral. I think at the point
of her husband's funeral
00:20:29
Michele had already decided
that she was going to break all ties, and I think by showing
up at the funeral she probably
00:20:36
foresaw all the
difficult interactions that she was going to have. People asking questions,
the family surrounding her.
00:20:43
I don't think she wanted
to do anything about that. I don't think she wanted to
engage with his family further
00:20:48
nor put herself in these
discomforting situations. NARRATOR: Michele made decisions
that bewildered friends
00:20:54
and family first she ditched
the business that Gregg had only recently bought for her.
00:20:59
The Blueberries yogurt
shop was purchased in May for $110,000,
and it was sold right
00:21:08
after the murder for $45,000. She also sold
Gregg's IT business. Now mind you he made quite a
bit of money at this business,
00:21:21
and had a good
clientele built up. And she sold his
business the one that made half a
million dollars net take
00:21:28
home that year she
sold it for $8,000 about a month after his murder. I think she was
really just trying
00:21:36
to be done with it as
quickly as possible because in her mind she was thinking
about how her life would
00:21:41
look after Gregg died. But while Michele
Williams was working on moving on
suspicious detectives
00:21:49
continued their investigation. I don't think she
thought through all of this other stuff.
00:21:54
I don't think she
thought through the fact that she might be the person
of interest in his murder.
00:21:57
I don't think she
thought through all of the other consequences
that she would have to resolve
00:22:01
first before she could move
on with a quote unquote "better life." NARRATOR: As Michele Williams
flip-flop between stories
00:22:13
detectives were building
a picture of what really happened in
her husband Gregg's
00:22:16
bedroom on October 13th, 2011. Could he have been shot
by an unknown intruder. First, Jamie Becker
a forensic firearms,
00:22:25
and tool mark examiner
had to establish what weapon had been used. So in the crime laboratory the
firearm, and tool mark section
00:22:34
is typically tasked with
identifying fired bullets or fired cartridge cases
back to a particular firearm.
00:22:43
NARRATOR: Gregg's own gun was
recovered from the scene as well as a used bullet casing.
00:22:48
And the Keller
police department had submitted some
evidence to the section that they wanted tested.
00:22:54
They submitted the pistol, the
cartridge case, some bedding from Mr. Williams's bed,
and of course we had
00:23:02
the bullet from the autopsy. NARRATOR: The bullet, the
casing, and the weapon matched.
00:23:07
Gregg was shot with his
own 45 auto caliber pistol, and it was a very
high end pistol.
00:23:14
And he kept it in his
nightstand beside him, which would have been to his left. And he was shot in more of
the right temporal region
00:23:23
of his head. NARRATOR: What did that show? The pathologist had recovered
the bullet from Gregg's head,
00:23:31
and it had been noted that it
was fairly straight through. It didn't have a
downward trajectory,
00:23:38
or an upward trajectory
it was fairly straight. The police and the
medical examiner of course
00:23:45
noticed he had these
marks on his face on the right side of his face. These marks are known as powder
or gunpowder stippling marks,
00:23:56
and they're little
tiny bruises that are caused when the
gunpowder strikes with force.
00:24:02
That means that the gunpowder
had traveled some distance. The presence or
absence of stippling
00:24:10
shows whether or
not a gun was placed near, or away from the body. So performing my range
work where I shoot the pistol
00:24:20
with similar ammunition to
develop where this pattern would be recreated. It was somewhere
greater than six inches,
00:24:29
but less than 24 inches. NARRATOR: This
hypothesis was further supported by the
absence of blowback
00:24:36
in the barrel of the gun. When the firearm is found,
and there is no blood or debris
00:24:42
inside the firearm
then that too is indicative that is
not a contact wound because there's no blowback.
00:24:48
The force that goes into the
victim actually comes back out, and goes into the
barrel of the gun.
00:24:56
NARRATOR: All the
ballistic evidence suggested a straight shot to the
temple fired from between six
00:25:01
and 24 inches away. Not easy to explain
by the notion that Gregg had shot himself.
00:25:08
So if Gregg committed suicide,
and had his hand on the pistol operating the grip safety.
00:25:15
And had it supported
maybe by his pillows, so that he had this nice
level shot through his head
00:25:24
from a distance of greater
than six inches away but closer than 24 inches. The hypothesis was is that
he had laid his pistol down
00:25:34
on his pillow sideways
away from his head, and then pulled the trigger. That would leave very
distinctive gunshot
00:25:43
residues that would
be detectable, and observable on his pillows. There weren't any.
00:25:51
NARRATOR: Suicide was
looking very unlikely. There was more about the
scene that didn't add up.
00:25:57
The bullet casing was
found on the ground right next to the gun. The staging of the pistol
was very obvious to me
00:26:07
because the cartridge
case shouldn't have been found there. So during the firing
of a pistol such as
00:26:13
he had the 45 auto
caliber firearm. The cartridge case should
have been extracted,
00:26:19
and ejected more towards
the right and the rear of where the shooter was. So if Gregg had
committed suicide
00:26:27
it had been likely to have
been found actually right there in his bed with
them, but where it was
00:26:34
staged right next to the pistol,
right next to the wrench, which was all placed nice
and neatly right
00:26:41
by the door to the back poach. NARRATOR: A month after the
murder Michele asks for help.
00:26:47
She turned to the son
from her first marriage. She wanted his
help to get Gregg's
00:26:52
former wife Kathy arrested. She tries to get her
own son to get his friends together to try to frame Kathy.
00:27:02
Michele's plan was to
have her son purchase an extra large sweater
and some gloves,
00:27:08
and to fire a gun with those
items trying to capture or collect gunshot residue.
00:27:16
Once that was done she
wanted that evidence planted in Kathy's car, and
an anonymous call
00:27:22
made to police so they could
find the evidence therefore blaming her for the murder.
00:27:27
He thinks she's
losing it at this point doesn't know what's wrong with
her, but he just dismisses it.
00:27:34
NARRATOR: After
Michele's son Andrew refused to help her frame
Kathy Williams she turned
00:27:38
her attentions to her
other son Lee not for help, but to be a stooge. So she decides at this
point that she wants
00:27:46
to frame one of her own sons,
so she started asking questions on whether or not from
her son that her other son
00:27:54
could have actually done this. He thinks is she trying
to frame my brother. Michele had had a fight with his
brother Lee just days before,
00:28:06
and it sounds as though Michele
may be trying to pin it on him. Do you think that Lee could have
had something to do with this?
00:28:13
Her own son her stories
are flipping back and forth. It's like she's
grasping at straws.
00:28:19
I think she just lives
life moment to moment quite impulsively, and never really
thinks through everything
00:28:27
from beginning to end. NARRATOR: By January
2012 detectives believed they had enough to
prove that Michele had murdered
00:28:33
her husband Gregg Williams. She was arrested, and charged
but almost immediately
00:28:38
prosecutors hit a snag. Vital forensic evidence
had been compromised. One of the main
issues was Gregg
00:28:45
was actually transported in his
own bed sheets to the morgue. That actual bed sheet
would be used as evidence,
00:28:51
so it would be
collected separately to collect any other evidence. But to wrap someone
up in that then it
00:28:59
can catch a lot more
evidence from other people and other places. Say for instance one of
the paramedics lost a hair,
00:29:08
or perspired, or bled or
something then that evidence would be not usable. And that cross
contamination in an autopsy
00:29:17
would have been
devastating to the case. NARRATOR: Fearing
the defense attorney would discredit their
forensic evidence prosecutors
00:29:23
went for plan B. So prosecutors came to
an agreement with Michele, and that was to allow her
to plead two deadly conduct
00:29:33
and hindering an investigation. Under Texas law she
could get as little as two and half years, or
as many as 20 years.
00:29:43
Prosecutors actually agreed to
recommend an 18 year sentence. It's actually a very good
deal, and Michele agrees to it,
00:29:51
and they set a date
for sentencing. But while awaiting
sentencing a flurry of bombshell developments
in Michele's private life.
00:29:59
She's on the internet looking
for how to create fake birth certificates, how to obtain
fake social security cards,
00:30:13
and there was also how
to live as a fugitive. NARRATOR: Awaiting sentencing
for her involvement
00:30:24
in her husband's death
Michele Williams found love. October 2013 as they're
awaiting sentencing Michele's
00:30:31
actually dating. She's actually dating one
of her son's best friends. Gene Wallis is a
personal trainer.
00:30:38
The widow and her
musclebound young lover opened a gym in nearby Bedford. She reinvented herself
as Shelley Williams never
00:30:46
telling clients that
she was the focus of a murder investigation. Being in a relationship also
gave Michele a convenient fix
00:30:54
to a knotty dilemma. Michele didn't want to
go to prison she was hoping that she wouldn't be
sentenced to the 20 years
00:31:03
that she was facing. So she told the judge that
she was pregnant with twins. It's a high risk
pregnancy, so she
00:31:10
knows what's going to happen. The judge agrees to
delay the sentencing trial until after
the babies are born.
00:31:17
She had lied so many
times that you practically picked up the paper,
and said, OK, what lie
00:31:23
is she's going to say today. NARRATOR: Some were
skeptical but Michele handed over a sonogram to prove the
existence of her unborn twins,
00:31:33
and as family, friends, and law
enforcement officers were still reeling from that announcement.
00:31:38
She took advantage of
the delayed sentencing hearing to snatch a
moment in the limelight.
00:31:43
Before the
sentencing trial ever happens Michele
goes on television, and she changes back
to her original story
00:31:51
it was an intruder. NARRATOR: The US public had
all about Michele's ordeal she was the grieving widow
whose husband had died
00:31:58
in a violent home invasion. Also watching local
law enforcement. It's a very good thing
for people to do interviews
00:32:06
with the press because they're
given a formal interview that we haven't
orchestrated, or have to read
00:32:12
them their rights or anything. They voluntarily tell a story
or lie, and give us more leads
00:32:16
and more evidence to go off. NARRATOR: In this case by
denying her involvement in Gregg's death
Michele was seen
00:32:22
to be reneging on the
plea deal that she had struck with the judge. Because she's adamant
that she didn't do anything
00:32:31
she goes on national
TV to say I'm innocent. The judge who accept the
plea deal hears this,
00:32:41
and says no we're not going
to accept the plea let's go to trial. So Michele actually ended
up going back to court,
00:32:47
and she was not able to keep
her deadly conduct up plea. And she would be going
on trial for the murder.
00:32:57
NARRATOR: When Michele
was hauled back to court now indicted for murder
officials expected to see signs
00:33:02
of a growing baby bump, but
once again Michele's claims were exposed as lies. Investigators
later looked there
00:33:10
was no hospital record,
or nothing to indicate that she was pregnant ever. At that time between after
the murder and the time that
00:33:20
the trial starts, and then
there's other indications where she's on the internet
looking for how to create
00:33:30
fake birth certificates. How to obtain fake social
security cards, and there was also how to
live as a fugitive.
00:33:44
And Michele's sister actually
says this is her thing. I mean, she does this
she fakes pregnancy,
00:33:51
she fakes miscarriages. I don't know it's
a way of attention, but this is not unusual for her.
00:33:56
NARRATOR: For those following
the Gregg Williams murder case it was a roller coaster ride.
00:34:01
I've never run across a
murder suspect like this. I've been a reporter
for 40 years,
00:34:07
and I've never run across
somebody who lied so many times during a murder investigation.
00:34:16
And probably to this day
she might still believe it. I don't know. NARRATOR: In September
2014 almost three years
00:34:24
after her husband Gregg
was killed Michele Williams stood trial for his murder. Prosecutors cast Michele as a
liar, and an arch manipulator,
00:34:33
but could they prove she
had the motive to kill. They will hear a lot
about her changing stories
00:34:40
as to what happened,
and all of the people she has tried to frame
for the murder of Gregg
00:34:45
when she in fact is
the one who is guilty. Even her own son Andrew
will take the stand
00:34:51
and testify against her. Privately he might have
been still supportive of her, but he sure hated to
publicly testify against her.
00:35:03
And tell other people
my mom's a liar she tried to make
me produce evidence to say that Gregg's ex-wife
had committed the murder,
00:35:19
and why I didn't go to the
police right off the bat. Well, that's because it's
my mom I couldn't do that.
00:35:26
I had to think it over. NARRATOR: Jurors had the
ballistic evidence that made the possibility
of both a suicide,
00:35:32
and an attack by an unknown
intruder seem unlikely, and something new
had been discovered.
00:35:38
Michele had had Gregg
take her to the gun range to practice
shooting fairly recently
00:35:45
before this occurred. She wasn't familiar
maybe necessarily with guns not like somebody
like me who shoots all the time,
00:35:53
so she had had like a
little refresher course. NARRATOR: Schooled
in how to shoot,
00:35:58
but why kill her husband? And the prosecution argues
this was purely about money.
00:36:04
It was all about money. NARRATOR: In 2011
the couple was days away from completing the
purchase of their dream home,
00:36:10
but there was a major
snag in their plans one Gregg knew nothing about. She was the one in charge
of the books for about
00:36:18
the business and their
home, so during that year Gregg only had six transactions
out of all of the businesses
00:36:28
and household financial. He wrote some checks for
his daughter's counseling. All the rest of the activity
was completely by Michele,
00:36:39
and so she was the one
moving money around. And spending the money and
charging on the credit cards,
00:36:46
and Gregg had no idea what
debt she was accumulating and the cash withdrawals
that she was making.
00:36:55
He was in a lot of debt
and that came from the fact that Michele Williams
spent a lot of his money
00:37:03
without him knowing about it. His net take
home that year was around half a million
dollars after business
00:37:13
expenses and everything. So they were very
well off, and they were living in a nice big
house, and having pool parties
00:37:24
and just living the high life. NARRATOR: For more than a year
Michele had been splashing
00:37:30
the cash without restraint. To taking out over $100,000
in cash during the year.
00:37:37
She also had charged on my
credit card payments of 68,000 during the year, which
indicates that she's
00:37:44
using the credit card as
she's finding out about. Regarding the cash withdrawals
that's a large amount
00:37:51
of cash for anybody. NARRATOR: Then
there was the frozen yogurt shop that
Gregg had bought
00:37:56
his wife to keep her busy. Michele would come into the
business during the daytime,
00:38:01
and just pull the money out. Basically treated
the shop as her ATM, and would pull the
cash out of the till.
00:38:09
NARRATOR: They were due to close
on the purchase on October 14, but Gregg was about to
discover that the purchase
00:38:14
couldn't go ahead as planned. She had overspent
obviously, and she was trying to hide from Gregg
that they didn't have the money
00:38:28
available for the mortgage. They needed
approximately $95,000 when they went to closing
the following day,
00:38:37
and they only had about
$35,000 left in their accounts. And you can also see leading
up to the day of the death
00:38:46
where she's moving
all of this money around trying to
get it accumulated. So it indicates to me
that she was at a dead end
00:38:57
because she was going
to have to tell him, or he was going to find
out that they did not
00:39:03
have enough money to go
to closing the next day for their new house. NARRATOR: The couple's
financial records
00:39:10
have been exposed in court. The jury had been told Michele's
motive for killing her husband.
00:39:16
Michele realized that the good
times were over because Gregg was obviously going to be
upset that there wasn't
00:39:25
any money left in the accounts. That's why I looked at the
life insurance policies
00:39:31
because it turned out
she had a $850,000 life insurance policy on Gregg. NARRATOR: Finding the life
insurance policies also helped
00:39:41
explain the slew of lies
that Michele had told over the previous three years. So why did Michele keep
changing her stories?
00:39:49
The story of the intruder
wasn't adding up, so she flips to
the suicide story, but she doesn't stick
to the suicide story.
00:39:57
Why would that be? She wants to collect
on the life insurance Gregg could not have committed
suicide because the policies
00:40:06
all had clauses in them
that said they would not pay out in the event of a suicide.
00:40:11
But accidental death, murder,
health, $850,000 to Michele on this policy. So as it led up to the day of
the closing on the mortgage,
00:40:27
and Gregg finding
out that she had just blown through there money. That she knew that
as a last resort
00:40:37
she could pull this off
and collect on the 850,000, and still continue to live
her extravagant lifestyle.
00:40:45
NARRATOR: Will the jury at
Tarrant County criminal court agree? On September 29th,
2014 they retired
00:40:51
to consider their verdict. The jurors deliberated
for seven hours over a period of two
days, and in the end
00:40:58
their verdict Michele Williams
is guilty of the murder of her husband Gregg. She was sentenced
to 60 years in prison.
00:41:07
She's eligible for
parole in 30 years. A third shot at
a happy marriage had ended with the doting
husband losing his life.
00:41:15
An investigation full
of twists and turns had ended with a wife spending
most of her life behind bars.
00:41:22
I strongly believe that
he got duped by someone, and I don't think
he saw it coming.
00:41:31
She's an attractive
woman, and Gregg just saw somebody who he
thought he could spend
00:41:39
the rest of his life with. I dare say his family
or Gregg Williams himself never believed
that he was going
00:41:48
to be murdered by his wife. [music playing]