Murder trial set to begin for ‘Keller black widow’

Prosecutors have filed more than 100 documents in recent weeks in preparation for one of the most anticipated murder trials in Tarrant County this year: the case of Michele Willliams, called the “Keller black widow,” is scheduled to begin Monday.

The documents and previous testimony have been filled with contradictions, twists and turns since the case began on Oct. 13, 2011, with the slaying of her husband, Gregory Williams, in an upscale Keller neighborhood.

Prosecutors plan to introduce material showing that Williams, now 45: asked her sons to help frame her husband’s ex-wife for his murder; submitted a phony sonogram to try to prove she was pregnant and delay her sentencing; and rushed to complete Bible study assignments in order to look good at trial.

Williams is also charged with tampering with evidence. Testimony at her trial in Criminal District Court No. 396 is expected to begin Tuesday.

Prosecutors and Williams’ defense attorneys have declined to comment on the upcoming trial. But the documents indicate that prosecutors will introduce more than 50 instances of extraneous offenses, bad character and bad acts.

Previously filed documents show that Williams stood to benefit from two life insurance policies worth $650,000, and a third insurance policy on Greg Williams, valued at $150,000, named the couple’s daughter as the benefactor.

Changing stories

When he died, Gregory Williams was running a computer programming business in North Texas. His wife was the office manager and also operated a frozen yogurt shop in north Fort Worth, across from Keller Central High School.

Williams initially blamed the shooting on a nighttime intruder at their home in the 1400 block of Jacob Avenue in Keller.

Then she changed her story and told police her husband killed himself. She said she had lied to protect their daughter — who was in the house at the time of the shooting — from finding out that her father committed suicide.

A search warrant affidavit indicates that investigators thought Williams might have sedated her husband and turned up the TV to cover the sound of the gunshot. The affidavit also implied that she used the Internet to research how to stage a crime scene.

Documents show that after the killing Williams asked her sons, Lee O’Brien and Andrew O’Brien, to help frame her husband’s ex-wife, Kathy Williams, for the slaying.

Michele Williams was indicted on a murder charge in 2012, but prosecutors said they offered her a plea agreement because of “serious legal and technical issues with the investigation.” She pleaded guilty to deadly conduct and tampering with evidence in October 2013. Prosecutors agreed to recommend an 18-year prison sentence.

After the plea, Williams claimed she was pregnant with twins and offered the court a fake picture of a sonogram and a letter from UT Southwestern entitled “Confirmation of Pregnancy” as proof, documents show. Sentencing was set for April, but the date was moved to February when court officials learned she was not pregnant.

After her husband’s death, she had worked at a fitness center, and — after she had told officials she was pregnant and was wearing an ankle monitor while free on bail — she worked as a waitress at a strip club.

She had also apparently pursued a side business, Pleasure Builder, in which participants allow others to view sexual recordings for money, according to documents filed in court.

Internet searches

From Sept. 1, 2013, until January 2014, Williams searched the Internet for information about creating fake birth certificates, identification cards and Social Security cards, according to court documents. She also searched with terms such as “how to live life as a fugitive.”

In a jailhouse interview with the Star-Telegram, Williams said she accepted the plea to avoid the risk of a longer sentence at trial and so she could be reunited sooner with her daughter. Williams said she was confident she would make parole when first eligible, in two years and four months.

Williams declined during the Star-Telegram interview to discuss specifics of her husband’s death or the events that followed, citing her attorney’s advice to wait until after her sentencing hearing.

But she was more forthcoming the next day with 48 Hours, in a segment that was not scheduled to air until after District Judge Scott Wisch formally sentenced her. After she told a 48 Hours TV crew that she was innocent, Wisch threw out the plea deal, recused himself from the case and agreed to her defense attorneys’ request to recuse themselves.

In late July, documents show, she told her boyfriend she had a 20-page Bible study assignment to complete, and that she needed to finish as many as possible to present during her murder trial.

This report includes information from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published September 20, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Murder trial set to begin for ‘Keller black widow’."