Episode 134: Zelig Williams – Bite-Sized Crime

After returning to his hometown, a Broadway dancer goes missing, leaving his family and friends desperate to find him. Where is Zelig Williams?

Episode Media

One of the last pictures Zelig shared before his disappearance *(Instagram)*

Zelig’s red Ford Escape found at the Wateree Passage parking lot *(ABC4)*

Area where Zelig’s car was found *(Google Maps)*

Episode Sources

Episode Transcript

Welcome back to Bite-Sized Crime. This week I’m bringing you an ongoing case from my own backyard, one that has left investigators baffled and the family desperate for answers. This episode discusses sensitive topics, so listener discretion is advised.

On the morning of Thursday, October 3, 2024, 28-year-old Zelig Williams left his home in Columbia, South Carolina, just before 10am. His mother Kathy sat on the front porch, enjoying the cool autumn air, a welcome reprieve from the southern summer heat. Zelig told her goodbye before climbing into his red SUV and heading out for the day. It was a completely normal interaction, part of their daily routine. Kathy didn’t think anything of it until about ten minutes later when she received a strange message.

One of Zelig’s friends in New York City told Kathy that she had just gotten an SOS alert from Zelig’s iPhone. Although Zelig had recently moved back to South Carolina, he still had several New York friends listed as his emergency contacts. Each of those friends had received a ping from Zelig’s phone indicating a car crash at 10:10am.

Concerned for her son, Kathy reached out to some family members for help. It’s never been revealed how, but multiple news outlets have reported that Zelig’s family determined that the alert was not from a crash. Whatever they discovered must have been enough to calm their fears, because it wasn’t until Zelig failed to come home later that night that the family truly started to worry.

When he still hadn’t shown up the next morning and wasn’t responding to any of their calls or texts, Zelig’s family contacted the Richland County Sheriff’s Department and reported him missing. They told the responding officer about the SOS alert and that it was very unlike Zelig not to be in contact with anyone for such a long time. They were also concerned that Zelig didn’t have his prescription medication with him.

The officer took the report and entered Zelig’s information into the police database. It wouldn’t be long before they got their first lead.

Around 11pm on October 4th, a sheriff’s deputy on patrol came across an abandoned vehicle off Highway 601 in Columbia near Bluff Road. The red SUV was parked in the parking lot of the Wateree Passage of the Palmetto Trail, a 500-mile hiking trail that crosses the entire state of South Carolina. When the deputy ran the car’s plates, he saw that it was registered to a missing person: Zelig Williams.

When detectives arrived at the scene, they could see that Zelig’s car was completely intact – there was no sign of a crash or any indication that the car wasn’t in working condition. Zelig’s keys were inside the car, as if he had stepped away for a minute, intending to return.

According to Zelig’s family, they all loved to walk and hike, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that Zelig had decided to head out on the trail. The trailhead was just a few miles from the Congaree National Park, a 26,000-acre forest popular with casual tourists and dedicated hikers and kayakers. But the park had been closed for the last week after Hurricane Helene had swept across the state, and even though it had reopened the day before, there were still parts of the park that were blocked by flooding and downed trees. If Zelig had decided to go for a hike, this wouldn’t have been the safest place to do it.

Since Zelig had been reported missing that morning, investigators had received tips that he’d been seen driving near the park, which was only about 12 miles from his house. One witness reported that they had seen Zelig and his car at the trailhead, the same spot the car was later found. At this point, it was seeming more and more likely that Zelig had parked his car and gone into the park.

Zelig’s family and many community members joined law enforcement in a search of the Congaree National Park, focusing on the area near where his car was found. They walked the trails while ATVs, drones, and search dogs covered the heavily wooded landscape. They launched boats into the Congaree River as helicopters flew overhead, searching for any sign of Zelig in the muddy waters. But with every day that passed without finding Zelig, their hope began to wane. Zelig’s cousin Mieoki told WIS, “We can’t describe it, it’s devastation. It’s devastation for someone who is so close to his family to just disappear like that… there’s no way to describe it.”

As the days passed and there was still no sign of Zelig, investigators began looking more closely into who he was as a person, hoping for some clue that could lead them to his whereabouts.

Zelig was born in 1996, the youngest of Kathy’s three children. He was a bright, happy child who was described by one teacher as a “wide-eyed, trusting, and beautiful soul.”

Then in 2004, when Zelig was just 8 years old, his two older sisters were killed in a car accident. The grief that struck the family was indescribable, and Zelig and his mother clung to each other. Thankfully, Zelig was able to find an outlet for his grief in the theater. In fourth grade, he was cast in his school’s production of The Wizard of Oz, and he officially caught the acting bug. Over the next few years, Zelig took part in several school plays, impressing his teachers and peers with his creative energy.

When Zelig turned 12, Kathy enrolled him in dance classes at a local studio, and it quickly became clear that his talent was unparalleled. Kathy later told ABC News that Zelig’s joy and passion for dance was his way of keeping his sisters close to his heart. “He really danced because of them. He loved dance because he said he feels his sisters near him.”

After graduating from Dreher High School in 2014, Zelig moved to New York, where he enrolled in the fine arts program at Pace University, majoring in commercial dance with a focus on choreography. He wanted to pursue his dream of dancing on Broadway. When he wasn’t in class, he was auditioning, hoping to get his big break.

Then, in 2016, he was cast as an ensemble performer in the hit musical Hamilton. Soon, he was performing eight shows a week, living out his Broadway dream. After leaving the show in 2018, Zelig joined the cast of Hugh Jackman’s concert tour The Man. The Music. The Show., which performed in countries around the world. In 2020, Zelig was cast as Marlon Jackson in MJ the Musical, originating the role for the hit show that opened in 2022.

By all accounts, Zelig should have been on top of the world, but behind the scenes, he was struggling. He had been open about his mental health and his previous diagnosis of schizophrenia, but that wasn’t his only hurdle. In December of 2023, Zelig posted a video on Instagram in which explained that he had been molested as a child and that it had greatly affected how he saw himself. He said that he had struggled for years with his sexuality and was now dealing with the conflict he perceived between his lifestyle and his religious beliefs. He stated that he had been “delivered from homosexuality” and that he was making some major changes in his life.

On December 23rd, Zelig performed his last show with MJ the Musical, later saying on his podcast, “God was like, ‘It’s time to go’ – so I picked up my things, and I moved on.”

Six months later, Zelig decided to leave New York and return home to South Carolina. He reconnected with his dance community and began teaching classes at the studio. He scheduled a dance bootcamp for the end of September, but the event was canceled due to Hurricane Helene. In spite of the setback, Zelig had been in good spirits, glad to be back home with his family. He had recently celebrated his 28th birthday and posted about how happy he was. So when he left the house on the morning of October 3rd, no one had thought that anything was wrong.

Now, Zelig’s family wondered what could be preventing him from returning home. He had left that day without his medication, but they suspected that he hadn’t been taking it for days. If that was true, Zelig could be in a very vulnerable state.

Word of Zelig’s disappearance spread, with family and friends sharing his story on social media. Members of his dance community in South Carolina and New York urged anyone with information to come forward. Hugh Jackman shared Zelig’s picture on his Instagram stories, saying, “Zelig we love you and are praying for your safe return. Please pass this message on!!!”

On October 16th, Zelig’s family members joined Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott for a press conference. Zelig had now been missing for two weeks, and they had no solid leads. Sheriff Lott said that they were not ruling out the possibility of foul play and that they had used every resource at their disposal to find Zelig, but they needed the public’s help. “We feel confident there’s people out in the community who may know something that could help us and just not realize that they have that last key to the puzzle.”

Zelig’s mother Kathy broke down in tears at the podium, saying, “I just want Zelig to come home. You’re all I got. You’re all I got.”

The weeks continued to pass with no sign of Zelig. Investigators returned to the trailhead with K9 units and enlisted the help of the Department of Natural Resources. The family hired a private investigator to assist in the search, and they were able to raise $10,000 to offer as a reward for information. In a statement to the press, the family asked the community for support. “We are continuing to share where we are in the journey and expanding the search. We’re offering a reward for anyone who can provide a tip that leads to bringing Zelig home. If you see something, say something—we need to find Zelig and bring him home.”

In late October, a nonprofit group named “We Are the Essentials” announced that they were joining the search for Zelig. The group, made up of private investigators and former law enforcement agents, told WACH Fox 57 that they had been contacted by a friend of the Williams family and had driven up from Florida to help with the search efforts. “We are typically ground searchers. On day one, we covered the trail towards the bridge on foot. On day two, our colleague was on the water, and today we have three to four boats supporting the family’s search efforts.”

Two weeks later, another team joined the search. Adam Brown, a search and recovery diver and the founder of a nonprofit search organization, brought his team to Congaree National Park. He told ABC4 that the rough terrain had been made even more dangerous by the hurricane damage. “There’s a lot of woods, it’s a rough area if you’re getting off the trail, which I wouldn’t advise anyone to do because there’s a lot of dense vegetation, a lot of pools that look shallow but are actually very deep. It’s dangerous terrain.”

As of this recording, Zelig Williams is still missing, and his family is desperate for answers. His aunt Christine told ABC4 that they are hoping someone will come forward with the missing piece. “Any news you hear is big news. Even the littlest detail can be a big help in finding him.”

Zelig Williams was last seen by his family just before 10am on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at his home on Longwood Road in Columbia, South Carolina, just a few miles east of the Garners Ferry exit on Interstate 77. He may have been spotted driving his red Ford Escape near the Congaree National Park; it was later found abandoned at the Wateree Passage parking lot at the corner of Bluff Road and Highway 601. Zelig was last seen wearing black pants, a white t-shirt, and brown slides. He is a light-skinned black male, 28 years old, 6 feet tall, with short black hair and brown eyes. He has a birthmark on his throat and skin pigmentation on his legs and hands. He is without his medication and may be in a vulnerable state.

If you have any information about the disappearance or whereabouts of Zelig Williams, please contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Department at 803-576-3000 or SC Crime Stoppers at 888-274-6372. And please share Zelig’s story on social media so we can bring him home.