LA Forensics: The Murder of Daniel Williams

A Person of Interest

Ron had likely started off as one of Daniel's customers, according to investigators. Sometime later, the relationship had moved from professional to personal. During his infrequent calls back home to Georgia, Daniel even mentioned his relationship with Ron to his family.

"We didn't know Ron," Daniel's sister Pauline Bryant says, "but Danny had mentioned Ron periodically, and we were trying to tell Danny to come home when we found out what kind of character Ron really was, the way (Danny) described him."

According to Daniel's friend Joanna, and others at the rehab center, Daniel and Ron's relationship exploded when Ron found out that Daniel was HIV positive. Before Ron learned about Daniel's HIV status, the two had been having unprotected sex.

The investigators had to wonder if Ron's anger at his possible exposure to the virus that causes AIDS would be enough to drive him to kill Daniel.

Revenge, it was as good a motive for murder as any, and one of the most common.

"The only problem that Daniel had with anybody was with this boyfriend...Ron," Detective Baitx says.

Ron was definitely someone the investigators wanted to talk to. He was, in modern police parlance, a person of interest. The problem was that Ron was himself a mystery. The police couldn't find anyone who knew his last name or where he lived.

To find Ron, they would have to delve deeper into Daniel's past.

• Print version
• Email this
• 

1. A Double Life
2. Initial Impressions
3. A Gunshot Wound
4. The Last 24 Hours
5. Identification
6. Another Murder
7. The Firearms Examination
8. An Investigative Setback
9. A Person of Interest
10. Square One
11. A Cold Case
12. A New Lead
13. A Cold Hit
14. A New Suspect
15. Tracking the Suspect
16. Endgame
17. Confession