A woman is found shot to death in her home
The morning quiet of a residential neighborhood in Greensboro, North Carolina, was broken on Wednesday, September 2, 1998. At approximately 7:40 a.m., the Greensboro Police Department received a call reporting a person down at an apartment located at 502-B Mystic Drive. The address is part of a cluster of multi-unit residential buildings just off East Market Street, a busy thoroughfare in the eastern part of the city. When officers arrived at the scene, they entered the residence and made a devastating discovery.
Inside her home, officers found Cheree Danelle Williams, an African-American woman. She was unresponsive, and it was immediately clear that she was the victim of a violent crime. Medical personnel confirmed that she was deceased at the scene. A subsequent investigation by the medical examiner’s office would determine that Cheree had died from multiple gunshot wounds. Her life had been taken in the place where she should have been safest.
The Greensboro Police Department launched a homicide investigation, cataloged as Case #1998-203588. Detectives processed the scene at the Mystic Drive apartment, searching for physical evidence and seeking witnesses who might have seen or heard something unusual. However, despite their efforts, the initial investigation did not lead to an arrest. No suspects or persons of interest were publicly identified in the days and weeks that followed, and the case grew cold, leaving a painful void for those who knew and loved Cheree.
Very little information about who Cheree was has ever been shared publicly. Her age, her profession, her passions, and the family she left behind remain unknown to the wider community. Her memory is preserved primarily in the stark, official details of her unsolved murder, a case that has now remained open for more than two decades. She is one of several victims of unsolved homicides from that era in Greensboro, a city that, like many others, grapples with a history of cases where justice has proven elusive.
The investigation into Cheree Williams's murder is now considered a cold case, but it is not a forgotten one. It remains in the files of the Greensboro Police Department's Homicide Squad, waiting for the one piece of information that could break the silence. Investigators and the community hold out hope that someone, somewhere, has knowledge that could finally explain what happened inside the apartment on Mystic Drive and who is responsible for this violent act.
To encourage individuals to come forward, the state has offered a significant incentive. A Governor's reward of $5,000 has been authorized for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Cheree Danelle Williams. The case remains open and active. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Greensboro Police Department or to submit a tip anonymously through Greensboro/Guilford Crime Stoppers at (336) 373-1000.
