Mysterious Disappearances: What Happened to Terrance Williams?

Terrance Williams was a 27 year-old man that vanished under mysterious circumstances in January 2004.

The case gained more attention when a connection was made between the disappearance of Williams and a man named Felipe Santos. Santos had disappeared in 2003. The duo were linked through them being arrested by the same police officer before going missing.

This article reviews this disappearance. At the end of the article, there is a poll that we encourage you to vote on. We will all be able to view what the consensus is among our readers as to what happened.

Background

Williams lived in Florida at the time of his disappearance. He was a father of four children – with his wider family living in Tennessee.

His mother Marcia Williams lived near to him, and the duo were very close. Terrance was known to have a strong relationship with his four children.

The Disappearance

On the evening of 11th January 2004, Williams was attending a party. At the time, he didn’t have a valid license, and had been cited for driving under the influence in the past.

Despite this, Williams drove to the party. He was due to return either that evening or the early hours of 12th January. However, he didn’t.

His roommate Jason Gonzalez contacted Williams’ mother on 13th January to let her know that Williams had not been seen recently.

This led to the Williams family contacting the Police and filing a missing persons report. They had hoped that Williams would show up, but he didn’t.

The Investigation

The Police looked into the disappearance. They were unable to find any leads to suggest anything externally had happened. However, there was an internal issue.

One of the first developments involved Williams’s aunt tracking down his car. The car had been towed from a cemetery in Naples.

The aunt found that the tow report had been completed by Deputy Steve Calkins of the Collier County Sheriff’s Department.

However, confusion followed, as after contacting the sheriff’s department, it became apparent that Calkins had not filed an incident report, or made an arrest.

Williams’ mother Marcia was able to get in contact with employees at the cemetery where the car had been towed from. Employees there confirmed that Calkins had pulled over Williams and ask him for identification – which he did not have.

The employees said that they saw Calkins placing Williams in the back of his car. Moreover, they said that Calkins had asked if he could leave Williams’ car in the parking lot temporarily, which they allowed.

Calkins would return 15-60 minutes later, when he moved Williams’ car to the side of the road from the parking lot. The car keys were found on the ground next to the car.

These insights were important and led to the Williams family contacting the sheriff’s department to speak to Calkins. When this request was passed on, Calkins stated that he had no memory of the event – including having not towed any car on that day or making any arrests.

A few days later, Calkins was asked to submit an incident report. When filed, the report noted that he originally came into contact with Williams at 12.15pm. After noticing that the car was being driven erratically, Calkins pulled over the driver.

Calkins then said that in a discussion, Williams had asked for a lift to a nearby Circle K convenience store due to him being late for work. This aroused suspicion, due to Williams not being an employee at that store.

In the report, Calkins stated that he didn’t know the name of the person at the time, nor any other personal details.

The next few events put forward in the report by Calkins also caused confusion. Calkins said that he dropped off Williams at the store, and that Williams said that the relevant paperwork for his car could be found in the glove compartment. As a result, Calkins said he returned to the cemetery but that there was no sign of the paperwork in the car.

Calkins said he then called the convenience store and asked to speak to Williams, but that the person answering said that no one with that name or description worked there.

However, phone records showed that no such phone call took place. Moreover, CCTV failed to find any sign of Calkins or Williams at the convenience store. Similarly, employees were interviewed, and no one could recall seeing either Calkins or Williams.

Marcia made a complaint against Calkins as a result. This was investigated by the department, who became suspicious of Calkins’ actions.

Further issues came when a recording of the call where Calkins requested Williams’ car to be towed was released. In the call, Calkins said that the car was abandoned. This contradicted his own report and the statements from the cemetery employees – with Calkins having moved the car himself.

The recording also revealed Calkins had been joking with the operator and insulting the car that Williams had been driving. Calkins said afterwards that he was just joking with a co-worker during this call.

Additionally, it turned out that Calkins had asked for a background check on Terrance Williams shortly after the tow request. Again, this contradicted Calkins’ report, as he had said that he didn’t know the name of the person.

There was also the concern that Calkins’ whereabouts in the two hours after the above call were unaccounted for. It was suggested that Calkins could have potentially killed Williams and disposed of his body in this time.

A significant development came when the Mexican Consulate in Miami contacted Marcia to inform her of a similar disappearance from just three months ago.

The disappearance involved 24 year-old Felipe Santos, who was an illegal immigrant from Mexico. The key link involved the officer involved – Calkins. It transpired that Santos was also last seen in the back of Calkins’ car.

Moreover, Calkins said too in that case that he had dropped Santos off at a Circle K convenience store. This all happened just 4 miles away from where Williams had vanished.

Calkins had originally been cleared of any wrongdoing in the Santos case following an internal investigation. One of the concerns was that – similar to this case – Calkins’ movements afterwards were unaccounted for.

The FBI became involved in the case, and increased suspicion was placed on Calkins. The lack of awareness of what Calkins had done in the time following both arrests were under scrutiny.

A GPS device was placed on Calkins’ vehicle without him being aware. Moreover, a forensic analysis on the car took place. Neither of these efforts yielded anything of note.

Calkins was then fired from the sheriff’s department following the contradictory statements provided on both cases, and for refusing to cooperate with the investigation.

Unfortunately, subsequent efforts to investigate Williams’ disappearance seemingly hit a brick wall, with no suggestion of a third party being involved.

Later Developments

The case went cold. Many held, and continue to hold, Calkins responsible. However, no evidence has ever come to light to confirm his guilt.

In 2012, the case received some interest in the media, with the case featuring on various TV shows. With the rise in popularity of podcasts, the case became widely known. However, this didn’t stimulate any findings.

In 2016, Calkins moved out of Florida. Investigators searched his home and dug up land, in case the bodies of Williams and Santos were there. However, no human remains were located.

In 2018, the case received new interest due to American actor Tyler Perry offering a $200,000 reward for any information leading to the location of Williams and Santos.

Also in 2018, the Santos and Williams families filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Calkins. However, the arbitrator in the case said that while Calkins was uncooperative, that there was no evidence that incriminated him in either disappearance. Therefore, the case wasn’t ruled in their favour.

Marcia Williams has said that she continues to pray for answers to Terrance’s disappearance. She has said that she wishes she could spend all day searching for him.

Steven Calkins remains alive to this day, although he keeps a very low profile. He has refused to partake in various documentaries and podcasts about the case.

Terrance Williams was legally declared dead in 2009. He is presumed dead, and his body’s whereabouts is unknown.

Theories

Given the above information, many people will have already reached their conclusion. But a few possible theories have been put forward to explain this disappearance.

We take a look at the evidence for each theory:

Theory One: Terrance Williams was murdered by Steven Calkins

Most of the evidence suggests that Williams was murdered by Calkins. While no evidence to prove this has ever been found, there are several signs that this is true.

The whereabouts of Calkins in the time after he picked up Williams in his car is not accounted for. It is believed that this was up to 90 minutes. In this time, he would’ve had plenty of time to murder Williams and then dispose of his body.

Florida is a huge state, and through his experience, Calkins would have had a good idea of where to bury a body. Therefore, this looks theory does look likely.

In terms of the motivation for the crime, some have suggested that Calkins was racist, and that there was a racial motivation for the crimes.

There are so many similarities between this case and the disappearance of Felipe Santos. The circumstances are so similar, that it looks like both met the same fate.

The incident report filed by Calkins was littered with contradictions. The phone call, moving the car, asking for a background check with Terrance’s full name and later claiming he didn’t know his name – none of it adds up.

If we go with the assumption that Calkins murdered Santos and effectively got away with it, this may have emboldened Calkins to do it again. Had the Mexican Consulate not got involved, the connection would’ve never been made.

Calkins has also refused to cooperate in investigations. Why would someone innocent stay quiet? There isn’t much evidence to disprove the above theory.

Theory Two: Terrance Williams was abandoned and froze to death

In the early 2000s, several cases were reported in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan involving people being abandoned by the police after leaving them to the outskirts of the town or beyond city limits.

The idea was that they would need to find their own way home. Due to the bitterly cold weather in this province, it led to some people freezing to death. For example, a man named Lawrence Wegner was found dead in the area – having died from hypothermia.

It is possible that a similar thing happened here. Could Calkins have driven Williams out to the city limits and abandoned him? It has been proposed that Calkins could’ve driven to the Everglades and back in the time he was unaccounted for.

However, Florida is a warmer state, and even in the winter months of the year, it is unusual for the weather to drop too low. Therefore, this looks unlikely, although it is a possibility.

Theory Three: Terrance Williams was dropped off at Circle K and was the victim of foul play

The only other realistic theory is that Calkins told the truth – and that he dropped Williams off at the Circle K convenience store.

However, this may have resulted in Williams becoming the victim of some form of foul play. Maybe he was hit by a car while trying to make his way back. Or maybe he was the victim of a mugging that turned deadly. While unlikely, it is feasible.

But due to the similarities in the Williams and Santos disappearances, for this to happen on two occasions would be an almighty coincidence. Moreover, the inaccuracies in Calkins’ incident report suggests that they never made it to Circle K.

Reader Vote

We now invite you to vote on our poll below regarding which theory you believe is the most likely:

Summary

Precisely what happened to Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos after they were taken away in Calkins’ police car will surely never be known. The connection between the cases are incredibly concerning.

You can read our full article and analysis of the Felipe Santos case here.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no chance of a positive outcome in this case. For the family of Terrance Williams, the suffering and unanswered questions go on.