i think it did offend mike on a basic level. these people elected you. you re supposed to be doing good things for the community, not stealing from it. a jury found williams guilty of theft. he got probation, but lost his job and license to practice law. and now, a year later, both men who prosecuted him were dead, and williams was under suspicion. did you bear either of those men any kind of grudge? no. absolutely not. the media got wind of the interest in williams. and just days after the mcclelland murders, he was interviewed by nbc affiliate kprc. he strangely swept in on his segway. has anyone connected with this investigation suggested to you that you re a person of interest in the investigation? no. after the denial, his sympathies. my heartfelt condolences go out to both the mcclelland family and the hasse family because they were in public office doing the right thing, and for some reason that we re
no, it s not. we re gonna find the murder weapon. ranger kasper did the honors, lifting the heavy, steel door. this is one of those moments that i ll never forget because it was just wow. what did you see? we saw the white crown vic, the car that we d been looking for for all those days and all those man hours, and there it was. and we knew finally we had eric williams. but there was so much more. police uniforms and bulletproof vests, more than a half dozen police badges, thousands of rounds of ammo, and enough guns to supply a small army. he s got six or seven weapons of the right caliber that could have been the mcclelland murder weapon. we have five or six weapons of the right caliber that could ve been the hasse murder weapon. did you think that one of those guns had to be the murder weapon? i felt like our chances were pretty good because there were just so many in there. the guns and ammo were sent off to the lab for testing. inside this treasure trove of
A sheriff s deputy recognized the user i.d. for the county crimestoppers anonymous tip line. the first number corresponded to a tip from early in the hasse case. the tipster claimed to have overheard two men in a bar saying they d killed mark hasse. that meant the tip came from williams computer. a follow-up computer search also revealed williams had searched several how-to websites. one of the websites was how to throw the police off an investigation by sending in fake tips. the second number on that scrap of paper was even more important because it turned out to be the real thing. it matched back to that computer message that gave details about the hasse murder weapon and also threatened more killings. so we knew right then that that tip that had come into the command post was sent by eric williams. and we knew right then we were going to be able to put eric williams in jail. he was arrested, not for murder, but for making a terrorist threat about killing a judge.
The first time, before he lawyered up again. so fbi profilers came up with a strategy, send over a top-level texas ranger so williams would be more likely to let him in. was the idea that that would fit with his ego? he would view a major with the texas rangers as someone equal on his intellect that perhaps he would talk to. if you sent someone of lower rank, then he would just dismiss them. the ranger and a local cop familiar to williams went to his house carrying a hidden tape recorder. did it work? it worked great. williams let them in, without a search warrant. the subject quickly got around to guns. williams said he d been forced to sell his weapons to raise money since he could no longer practice law. i been in your house. i know you got lots of guns. yeah. okay. how do you think i ve been living? selling guns? yeah, for two years. you don t have anymore? you got rid of all of them? i have one gun that i m trying to sell, and it s just
Been linked to that tip that came in after the mcclelland murders. he sent an e-mail in to law enforcement claiming credit for the murders, thinking law enforcement would never figure it out. but he was wrong. investigators didn t have the murder weapon, but they had something else, a bullet they found inside a bag taken from williams storage unit. you know this is what you and your team recovered. yes. a ballistics examiner compared that single unfired bullet to the shell casings found at the murder scene and came up with a match. that live round was ejected from the same weapon that killed the mcclellands. so that was a big moment for us. and prosecutors thought this security video outside the storage unit nailed the case down. they said it traced the movements of eric williams and the crown vic on the morning of the murders. approximately 6:00 a.m. real time. that s when williams in his black suv pulled up to the
Lives for something good. they stood up and they did what they were supposed to, and they died for it. this is my chance to tell you the story of the murders of mike and cynthia mcclelland. prosecutor bill wirskye thought if he could prove eric williams had killed cynthia, that would obviously show he killed mike. you ll hear the story of a massive law enforcement investigation state, local, federal agencies working together to build an airtight case. one of the first witnesses called c.j. tomlinson, dallas police officer and friend of the mcclellands. c.j. told the jury how he and his parents found the mcclellands. i took a couple more steps inside the residence, i was hollering for mike. mike, mike! for three days, prosecutors brought a blizzard of witnesses. they told the jury williams had
That better than anyone. she s eric s sister. he was a good uncle to my kids. never missed their birthdays. i never had to remind him. she says, growing up, her big brother was her inspiration. he made eagle scout, went to college, law school, and became a successful attorney. he also served as a captain in the texas state guard. he was driven, he was ambitious. he wanted to make us feel proud of him. so tera and the legal community were stunned in 2012 when her brother, the newly-elected justice of the peace, got into trouble with the law. williams was accused of stealing three computer monitors for his personal use from the county i.t. department. here s surveillance video showing him carrying boxes of computer equipment. it just seems odd that someone like that would bother to steal a few computer monitors. exactly. it was just kind of shocking that someone would go and do
Before they left this world. they really did. they made a large impact on a lot of people. a beefed-up multi-agency task force vowed to catch whoever killed the mcclellands and mark hasse. investigators had seen that ford crown victoria on video roaming near the mcclelland home and thought it might be a police car. the terrible possibility it might be one of their own had to be ruled in or out immediately. we checked with every law enforcement agency in the area and identified where every police car was in the area. and none of them were even close to where this image was captured. next, they looked for anyone who for any reason had issues or disputes involving both prosecutors. there didn t seem to be anybody in that group of people that were upset enough that they would want to commit homicide. but there was one defendant involved in a felony they couldn t ignore. there was only one common denominator for those two prosecutors. which was? that was eric williams. eric williams? who was eric williams?
Reputation. we had several discussions about it. of course, eric s name came up in the discussions but if you can t prove it, then it doesn t matter. it doesn t matter what you think, if you can t prove it. and now this former justice of the peace was a convicted murderer. how? why? was he living a double life? i think he was. most people were fooled by his exterior. he looked so normal. he looked so average. he had the trappings of success, being a lawyer and a judge. but behind that mask was a homicidal psychopath. just angry at the world? yeah. i think he had a very dark, cold heart. but this case was far from over. prosecutors had won, but they were saving their best witness for last. investigators always suspected eric williams did not act alone. and he didn t. you re about to hear from his accomplice, someone who will take you inside the mind of a murderer. coming up you just can t make this stuff up. you would think this was a hollywood movie.