John Jefferson
Background: News footage of the scene in Fayetteville, N.C., where Heather Williams was found dead (WRAL). Inset: Heather Williams (provided by family).
A North Carolina family is desperate for information after a 25-year-old woman was found dead days after she was last seen getting into someone’s car.
The last known footage of Heather Williams, 25, was recorded on Jan. 4 at around 10 p.m., when she was seen on a Ring camera leaving her home in Fayetteville and getting into a light-colored car. On Jan. 10, Fayetteville police found the body of a woman in a wooded area and identified her as Williams.
Fayetteville detectives said in a press release that their investigation into Williams’ disappearance led them to a wooded area on Jan. 10, where they found the dead body of a woman at about 5 p.m. After notifying her family, they announced that they were investigating her death as a homicide.
WRAL, a local NBC affiliate, spoke with Williams’ older sister, Mary Williams, who shared details about just how dangerous her sister’s situation had been. Heather Williams had survived a car accident in 2015 that left her with cognitive impairment, a limited vocabulary, and a pronounced limp. Despite her setbacks, Mary said that her sister “worked really hard, you know, just having a normal life and do normal things that 25-year-olds do.”
The press release from Fayetteville police said that Williams was “considered endangered due to cognitive impairment.”
Mary Williams said that the car her sister was seen approaching on Jan. 4 may have been driven by someone she met online. The Fayetteville Observer reported that police had located the vehicle on Jan. 10. The Williams family told WRAL that the driver had been identified. WRAL reported that police had a person of interest, but no names have been released and no arrests have been made. The station also reported that police were able to trace a 3-minute phone call made by Williams in the days leading up to her disappearance.
Now the Williams family and Fayetteville police are asking the public for any information they might have.
“I just ask that people out there, if they hear anything or if they see anything, you know, somebody knows something, somebody’s talked to somebody, somebody has, you know, they slip up along the way,” Mary Williams told WRAL. “So, somebody’s got to know something. And you know, I just pray that whoever does know anything comes forward, and that we’re able to get justice for Heather.”
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