Woman kills her rich husband to get his insurance cover and be with another man

Texas, USA: When Michele Williams called emergency services, she was so hysterical that the operator couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. ‘Help me,’ she cried. ‘My husband’s been shot.’

Police and ambulances sped to the scene, but it was too late. Successful businessman Greg had been fatally shot in the head.

Michele had a large bruise on the side of her face and said there’d been an intruder. But before she’d dialled for help, Michele had been busy cleaning the crime scene. Why would she cover up for a killer? And why would she later claim that Greg had been the one who pulled the trigger?

Greg and Michele had both been married twice before. Greg had a daughter from a previous relationship and Michele had four children, and together, they had four-year-old Makayla. The Williams lived a very privileged life – talented Greg ran a computer business from his home, and had bought Michele a yoghurt shop to run.

Dream life

It was later claimed Michele was a man-eater, who moved from one man to the next to get what she could. It seemed she’d struck gold with Greg. He was kind-hearted, and enjoyed spoiling his loved ones with holidays and gifts. The couple lived in a £500,000 home in the affluent area of Keller, Texas, and had two Mercedes, plus they were in the process of buying another house.

They had the dream life, until the night of October 13, 2011, when Michele called 911. ‘My husband’s been shot!’ she cried. ‘Somebody was in the house. Please help!’

When police arrived, Michele said she’d been sleeping on the sofa in the living room with Makayla, when she was woken by a noise. She’d gone into the master bedroom and was hit on the side of the face and dropped to the floor unconscious. Then when she came round, she saw Greg, 40, lying dead on the bed – he’d been shot in the head.

But police were suspicious. There was no sign of forced entry or DNA evidence, because everything had been wiped clean. There was £12,000 cash in the house that hadn’t been taken – and why, if Michele had been sleeping, was she fully dressed and wearing make-up?

She did have a lump on the right side of her face, but there was no sign anyone else had been in the house. A surveillance camera in the gated community showed only one person entering around that time and it was a newspaper delivery man.

As the community reeled from the seemingly random killing, Michele didn’t act like the grieving widow. The next morning she went to a restaurant for a big fry-up breakfast. And in the following weeks, she sold the yoghurt shop Greg had bought her.

Police continued to question her, and when they put the pressure on, Michele changed her story. She claimed Greg had committed suicide and she’d lied because she wanted to protect her daughter.

‘I couldn’t let her know that her daddy killed himself,’ she wept. Michele said she’d wiped everything down – and hit herself with the wrench. ‘To make some sense, I had to have an injury,’ she said.

Again, police weren’t convinced, particularly as the gun had been fired from a foot away. They explored the possibility that he had enemies, but all roads led back to Michele. Three months after the shooting, she was arrested and charged with murder. Little Makayla went to live with family.

While out on bail, Michele revealed she was dating a new man, called Gene Wallis. Gene was a personal trainer, 12 years her junior – in fact, he used to be her son’s best friend.

The couple started a fitness business together, while the police struggled to build the case against Michele without any physical evidence.

After two years, they offered her a plea deal. Michele had scrubbed the scene, so they suggested she plead guilty to tampering with the evidence and ‘deadly conduct’, which in Texas means shooting a weapon in a potentially dangerous situation.

In October 2013, Michele agreed. In legal terms, she was taking responsibility for Greg’s death – admitting the gun was in her hands when it was fired. The maximum sentence was 18 years, but she figured she’d get no more than five.

Then in a shock twist, Michele announced she was pregnant with twins, and her sentencing hearing was delayed, allowing her to have freedom with an ankle monitor. When she later announced she’d lost the babies, she was ordered back to prison. Medical examiners could find no evidence that she’d been pregnant and friends and family said she’d often faked pregnancies and miscarriages in the past.

Michele was starting to look like a compulsive liar, and when she went to court she changed her story yet again, refusing to accept the plea deal. She protested her innocence, and the judge was furious. It was quite a gamble, she was now facing a murder sentence.

In September this year, the trial began in Texas. By now, Michele had been dubbed the ‘Black Widow of Keller’ and her toy-boy lover had proposed. The prosecution claimed that Michele, now 45, had killed her husband to get his substantial life insurance that totalled over £500,000. ‘The motive was money. Tried-and-true, age-old money. Greed,’ they insisted.

Cold-blooded

The prosecution also told the jury the couple had argued about money the night of the murder, because she’d spent £55,000 earmarked for a deposit on their new home. Angry, she’d sedated Greg, then turned up the TV to cover the sound of her shooting him in the head. Michele then hit herself with a wrench to stage a break in. It was a cold-blooded execution.

The defence argued that Greg had actually been depressed and Michele had covered up the suicide to protect their daughter. They said Greg had lost family members and had been taking steroids. Michele didn’t testify, but she had already told police she’d found the body and had simply panicked.

The jury didn’t believe her.

Michele was found guilty of murder and of tampering with evidence. After talking herself out of a plea deal that would have given her a maximum of 18 years, she was sentenced to 60 years for murder, and another 10 for tampering with evidence.

Michele’s last gamble didn’t pay off. Her lies finally caught up with her.