Case #21: The Murders of Sharon Williams and Walter Scott

Arriving on the Scene:

The date is October 19th, 1983. 

In the town of St. Charles, Missouri, a call is placed, alerting investigators that a vehicle had been run off the road. Some of the interesting notes were a small fire on the driver's side, and the fact that the engine was still running. 

Deputy Ed Copeland made his way down into the ravine the car had ended up in. He found an open door, and was able to climb into the car. He noted hearing gasping and gurgling. He saw a woman laying on her back stuffed underneath the dash. The next thing he noticed was a break in the windshield. He said that he noticed she was in some sort of trouble, and he tried to open her airway so that she could breathe. The next thing he noticed was an injury to the back of her head. He noticed this woman had wig on, and described the back of the woman's head as "mushy." Copeland also said that trying to get this woman out of the car and pass her on to the paramedics was something he had never experienced before. This led to paramedics rushing this mystery woman to the hospital, while detectives were tasked with finding out her identity. A fireman had been able to locate her purse on the scene, and handed it to Copeland. They were able to identify her as Sharon Williams. 

Sharon Williams:

Now, we'll take a little time to discuss who Sharon Williams is. Sharon is a 43-year-old mother of two sons. She is active in her local church, and is well-known in the community. 

Sharon's Death:

Investigators contacted Sharon's family. Her husband Jim was transported to the hospital by the police. Meanwhile, hospital staff worked on Sharon through the night. Unfortunately, her injuries were too severe. The next morning, Jim decided to take Sharon off life support. The Sheriff classified her death as a result of the accident. Detective Rick Luetkenhaus stated that several of the officers felt there was more to her death. 

The Investigation:

Deputy Copeland looked over the reconstruction of Sharon's accident. According to Copeland, the reconstruction showed that Sharon's vehicle along a small ravine, hit a tree, and as a result, Sharon ended up under the dash when the car wound up hitting the bottom of a creek. 

This reconstruction was actually inconsistent with what Copeland thought. 

Something similar was echoed to the last case I covered. The damage to the car was actually fairly minimal. Therefore, he didn't buy that this matched up with the severity of Sharon's injuries. But, the sheriff accepted the reconstruction's result of an accident, and the case was put to rest. However, Copeland would be haunted by the case for the next three years.  

Mary Case: 

Mary Case is a medical examiner who was called in to look at Sharon's case. When Dr. Case started looking into Sharon's medical files, she noticed that Sharon never received an autopsy. I don't know about you, but that struck me as interesting. Ok, so we're going to circle back to her injuries. Dr. Case found that the worst injuries were to the back of her head (the wound in the back of her head was the wound that proved fatal). She did receive some minor injuries to the front of her head. 

After looking over the medical files, Dr. Case determined that Sharon's body needed to exhumed. She wrote a letter to the state's attorney asking for a court order to exhume Sharon's body, and even states the evidence she has. She was told no. Dr. Case was stone-walled for five months before finally taking matters into her own hands. 

Digging Up the Truth: 

Dr. Case called Sharon's mother, and told her she believed Sharon's death was not caused by a car accident. With permission from Sharon's mother, Dr. Case illegally exhumed Sharon's body. Dr. Case even said she had never done this sort of thing before. 

When Dr. Case performed the autopsy, the only injuries she found were to Sharon's face and head. When she was being interviewed, a forensic pathologist named Dr. Jane Turner had said she would have expected more injuries than those to the head. But, the most telling information that Dr. Case found was in regards to the injuries to the back of Sharon's head. 

Dr. Case found that these injuries were not consistent with Sharon's other injuries. As a result, Dr. Case confirmed that Sharon's death was a homicide. In fact, Dr. Case said she believed the injuries were more consistent with a pipe or crowbar.  

The Case Re-Opened: 

Now Sharon's death was being investigated as a murder, and the first person they turned to as a suspect was Sharon's husband, Jim Williams. 

Jim Williams: 

Much like his wife, Jim was somebody who was well-known and respected in the community. In fact, a lot of the people he knew and was friends with were businesspeople, judges, and politicians. Jim himself was also a businessman. In the time since Sharon's death, Jim had married a woman named JoAnn.

Walter Scott:

Walter Scott, a.k.a. Walter Notheis

Okay, now let's talk about the second victim in this situation. Walter Scott was JoAnn's first husband. Curiously, he was reported as a missing person two months after Sharon Williams' death. Before continuing, I should mention that Walter Scott was actually a stage name. His real name was Walter Notheis. Walter was the lead singer of a rock and roll band. 

The Story of His Disappearance: 

Walter and JoAnn

According to JoAnn, she told Walter he needed to get the paperwork done on the car. Walter put on his coat and a blue jogging suit, told JoAnn and their kids he would be right back, and then never came back. Around 2:00 AM, JoAnn wanted to file a police report, but was told it was too soon. 

On the surface, this may not raise any alarms. But, by all accounts, it was actually quite common for Walter to say he would be back in a little bit, and then be gone for the rest of the night. So, it seemed like it was just kind of odd that JoAnn would immediately file a missing persons report. In fact, the person Walter was supposed to pick up a part for the car from said he never showed up.  

When JoAnn and the investigators went looking for Walter, they found his car at the airport (based on JoAnn's suggestion). The car was completely empty. 

There are a couple of other key aspects to Walter's personality I should mention before moving on. First off, Walter was described as a womanizer. Second, he seemed to like associating with seedy people. 

Ok, so, it should also be stated that all of this was being investigated before anyone knew about the possible connection to Sharon Williams' death. 

A Brief Aside:

Before I go on, some information I found interesting was knowing that Walter's mother had actually consulted a psychic just so she could answers for her son's disappearance. 

The New Working Theory: 

So, at this point, investigators have a new working theory that maybe Jim and JoAnn were having an affair, and didn't see any other way out of their respective marriages. 

Now, there are some legs to this. For example, Jim Williams was at JoAnn's house the morning she filed the missing persons report for Walter. 

If this behavior wasn't suspicious enough, around this time, JoAnn started cancelling all of Walter's future gigs. 

Jim Williams, Jr.:

Jim "Jimmy" Williams, Jr. is the oldest son of Jim and Sharon. He was in prison when the police informed him that his mother was dead and that they believed his father was involved in her death and in Walter's disappearance. 

Jimmy pointed them in the direction of a cistern in Jim's backyard as a possibility for where Walter's body could be. 

The Cistern: 

Looking at the cistern, there was odd behavior . A flower pot was built over the top of it in December 1984. 

The cistern was dug up, and I'm sure you'll never guess what they found. Sure enough, Walter's body was being hid in the cistern. He was wearing the outfit he was reported missing in. 

They found a plastic bag in the cistern that confirmed the body was in fact Walter Scott. 

When his body was pulled out of the cistern, they found it was bound. 

Walter's body was taken to the morgue, and one of the first things Dr. Case noticed when they did x-rays was a gunshot wound to Walter's chest (more specifically, a rifle).

Before I wrap this case up. I would like to note that Walter and his band were one-hit wonders famous for a song called "The Cheater." The lyrics stated: "Look out for the cheater." Looking back on this, it seems incredibly ominous.

What Happened Next:

Jim Williams' mugshot after his arrest

Officially, police have linked Jim Williams to two murders. For both murders, he was indicted by a grand jury. However, they don't believe he acted alone. There were just too many variables for that to be the case. But, they didn't have enough evidence to officially link JoAnn to either murder (at least, not at first). In November 1992, Jim Williams was found guilty for both murders and was sent to the Potosi, a maximum security prison in Missouri. He was sentenced to life without parole.  

JoAnn, meanwhile, was eventually determined to have had some involvement in Walter's disappearance. She was sentenced to five years, and was released on parole after only 18 months.  

Further Follow-Up:

In September 2011, Jim Williams died in prison at the age of 72. 

My Thoughts:

I was a little surprised to find that JoAnn received such little prison time, especially in comparison to Jim. I do understand how the evidence surrounding her would be seen as circumstantial. On the other hand, I pretty firmly believe that Jim got what he deserved. Now, I should also point out that Jim said in an interview that he believed Jimmy was the one who actually killed Walter. Honestly, I don't buy that. 

Sources:

Anthony, Shane. “Man Who Murdered St. Louis Singer Dies in Prison.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch , 13 Sept. 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20140821070717/http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/stcharles/article_142a7f38-dd8b-11e0-b912-0019bb30f31a.html. Accessed 30 Jan. 2022.

“Forensic Files: The Cheater.” Season 7, episode 1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdhOyC7P4CE.

“Secrets of the Morgue - The Wells Run Dry .” Season 1, episode 1, https://www.hulu.com/series/secrets-of-the-morgue-90f2c8f2-4fce-49b7-b6ea-00a4de0ca48a.