Tensions heightened with report of missing woman

Tensions heightened Tuesday as another Rocky Mount woman, fitting a similar description of the victims, went missing.

However, the children were staying with their babysitter at 808 S. Tillery St., police said. When Williams never arrived at that location, the friend called police.

Capt. Laura Fahnestock, commander of the police department's Criminal Investigations Division, said police located Williams just before 8 p.m. Tuesday. She was unharmed and stated she did not want her family to be aware of her location, Fahnestock said.

"Her kids have been number one in her life,” said Darryl Charles, the son of the woman who filed a missing person report.

Williams' father said authorities quickly began searching for his daughter since her profile matched that of the other slain or missing women.

"They wanted to jump on the case and locate her as quickly as possible,” Larry Williams said.

"The reason they were concerned is because they did not want her to end up like the other five women,” Larry Williams said.

A sixth body discovered in February has yet to be identified, and three other missing women with similar descriptions and backgrounds – Christine Marie Boone, Renee Joyce Durham and Yolanda Renee Lancaster – remain missing.

Mary Michelle Williams' background had similarities to the slain women, such as she is known to frequent hotels and drug areas, police said.

Charles said he knew some of the slain women and was worried Mary Michelle Williams had suffered the same fate.

"That was my mother's main concern for calling, because other women have gone missing around Rocky Mount,” Charles said.

Meanwhile, Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office, Rocky Mount Police Department and State Bureau of Investigation are part of a task force looking into the slain women cases. The Edgecombe County District Attorney's Office is also lending support to investigators.

Anyone with information about the cases is asked to call the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office at 252-641-7911.