Account
Jul 20, 2009
May 21, 2024
Olisa
Williams
42
24 inches
35 lbs
Black / African American
Female
In the summer of 1982, a heart-wrenching story began to unfold with the disappearance of 10-month-old Olisa Williams from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The infant girl was last seen around June 1st of that year. Olisa's life took a devastating turn when her legal father, Isiah Williams, took her from her mother, Denise, in Cincinnati, Ohio, following a physical altercation. He then brought the child to Michigan. This act was the beginning of decades of uncertainty and pain for Olisa's mother, as the initial report to the police was viewed as a custody dispute rather than an abduction. At the time of her disappearance, Olisa was described as being about two feet tall and weighing 35 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. The circumstances surrounding Olisa's disappearance remained murky for years, clouded by Isiah Williams' conflicting accounts. He once told a judge he had been drinking and using marijuana while driving with Olisa, parked at Island Park in Ann Arbor, and fell asleep, only to wake up and find her gone from the car. He claimed he didn't report her missing because he assumed her mother's family had taken her. Over the years, he gave other disturbing and contradictory stories to Olisa's mother, including that he had killed her, that she had died in a hospital, and that she was "across the water." Despite searches, including of the Huron River, no trace of Olisa was ever found. The case went cold but was periodically revived, with investigators continuing to pursue justice for the missing child. Decades of persistence from law enforcement and Olisa's mother finally led to a breakthrough. In October 2021, nearly forty years after she vanished, Isiah Williams was arrested and charged with her murder. The case against him was built upon years of investigative work. In May 2024, a jury found him guilty of both felony murder and first-degree premeditated murder. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Although Olisa's body has never been recovered, the conviction brought a measure of legal closure to a case that had remained unresolved for over four decades. The court proceedings highlighted a long history of domestic violence and a mother's relentless fight for answers in the tragic disappearance and presumed death of her infant daughter.
Jun 01, 1982
Ann Arbor
Michigan
Washtenaw County
No
25875
Ann Arbor Police Department
Ann Arbor
Michigan
Washtenaw County
48104
301 E Huron St, Michigan
7347946920
Local
Law Enforcement
83-4049
Ann Arbor Police Department
7173
Black
Brown
Brown
06/15/2026
