Forty-two-year-old Dale Williams was a devoted husband and father of two teenage daughters. He owned and operated an auto body shop in the town of Nucla. On May 27, 1999, a stranded motorist called for help. Williams’s friend, who was at the shop, thought that the caller was female from the way Williams was talking. Williams seemed to be in a normal mood when he left, but the weird thing was that Williams wasn’t a mechanic, so he didn’t usually go out on many calls. The friend overheard Williams say that he’d bring the wrecker, but then said, that he’d just bring the pick-up. That was the last confirmed sighting of him. Five weeks later, the truck was found where the San Miguel River and the Dolores River meet. The truck was in gear, and the ignition was on. Also, the window was half-open, which his wife thought was strange, because he always drove with the window all the way down.
One suspect was a former friend of Dale’s. Williams and his wife had helped the former friend’s wife move, and they refused to tell him where they had moved her. Evidence that pointed to this former friend included torn-up pictures of Williams and the former friend’s family. They also found .22 caliber bullets around the shop. Williams’s wife ran a video store, and someone had dropped off a .22 caliber gun in the video return box after Williams had gone missing. Both the pictures and the gun had come from Williams’s shop. The police interviewed the former friend, but he denied any involvement. The same former friend was caught on camera removing the missing posters in the US Post Office. Williams has never been found, and no one has ever been arrested in connection with the crime. The identity of the caller also remains a mystery and the cell phone used was reported to be stolen.
Further information about this case can be seen on Unsolved Mysteries and the CBI
*Note: I scrubbed the web and Facebook for as much information about Dale’s case as I could, to include words and pictures. This site could be considered a collaboration of all what I and many others have been able to find. Dale’s case isn’t well known outside of Montrose County. Let’s change that. Let’s get this case on podcasts, let’s get the family some closure. It’s been a long time and the girls have pretty much been robbed of a normal life that most people get to experience with their fathers. Push this site, push this information, and contact the CBI immediately if you come across ANY information, no matter how insignificant you may think it is – CALL
I think that cop knows more than he’s telling.
Hello, have you considered contacting the tv show Cold Justice?
That friend is way too suspect
You got it buddy.
I think it was a set up by that friend
Did they check those rivers? Saw nothing about that. Hate to say it but since he hasn’t been found that may be where he ended up. Sad for his family.
The officer stated “mostly” regarding the former friends alibi. Mostly? He denied any involvement. Of course the guy is going to deny that he had anything to do with it. The officer didn’t seem confident at all with his statement. Your dad seemed well liked. I have listened, watched, and read a number of things about this case. That former friend is the key.
I’ve been trying to figure out the missing pieces of this case. My own father disappeared 10 yrs. before Dale. He’s never been found. It seems to me, when referring to the friend’s alibi, the words “mostly checked out” are highly disturbing. I don’t buy the selling drugs theory. The torn photos, rising down fliers…Someone needs to look further into this case.
Wow. This is just blatantly obvious the “friend” did it. But for whatever reasons, either they didn’t have enough evidence (no body) or the cops were covering for this guy..Dale and his family will never get justice. Ever. The WHO and WHY is not a mystery!! It’s in plain sight!! This guy literally got away with murder. However he orchestrated this, he got away with it. The “mostly checked out alibi”.. Yeah..that’s their. way of saying, ” he did it but we don’t have enough evidence to arrest him. I feel sorry for his family because they were trying to help this poor woman get away from her ex husband, who, as we now know must have been pretty damn abusive if they had to move her out of state in secret. And now we know he’s capable of murder. The way I see it, Dale sacrificed his life for a friend who may have had the same fate it she didn’t get away.
Great analysis!
I wonder what happened with the stolen cell phone, who was His original owner and how was stolen or get lost
Did they check his van for blood? IFthey still have it.
Now with DNA testing now it might be worth a shot.
Mx
If it was submerged in the river for an extended time, I doubt there would be any traces of blood left in the truck.
At the time, didn’t anyone think to ask the phone company for the incoming records of calls to his shop on that day and time frame?? That would give you a start. Even if it was the little country store, they could talk to the owner/s about who was there at that time.