Dateline: Missing In America
Dateline: Missing In America

The Day Zelig Vanished

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On October 3, 2024, 28-year-old Broadway performer Zelig Williams disappeared from Columbia, South Carolina. He was last seen by his mother, Kathy Williams, when he left her house around 9:50 that mor...

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The moment a body is found, the clock starts ticking.

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From A&E in crime house, this is the official podcast from the famous true crime series The First Forty-eight.

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we dissect some of the most mysterious cases. But listen, we're not just rehashing what you can read for yourself online. We have a team of dedicated investigative reporters and producers who I work with for months on every single episode. But the show still feels like having a conversation with your best friend. If your best friend was attractive, but like a good detective. So join us and tune into crime junkie every Monday wherever you get your podcasts.

New York City has always had a magnetic pull for young bright-eyed performers looking for

their big break, that part in a Broadway show that takes you from obscurity to start them. Like the song says, "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." The line missing

from that anthem of hope is that most of those would be stars. Do not make it there.

Those are dreams that a lot of people have, but very few people achieve. You're right. You're definitely right. Zellig Williams was one of those rare success stories. I literally looked at him while he was dancing and was like, "You're going to be a star. I just knew it." Zellig was just 19 and attending college when he landed a role in the ensemble of a little musical you may have heard of. "I am not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my shot.

What was that like seeing him on stage?" "I'm amazing." He went to perfect his craft, whether it was dance, acting, singing, he truly studied it and wanted to just be the best version of himself. By the time he was 28, Zellig was a Broadway veteran and ready to share what he had learned with the next generation. "Whist of y'all. I've been planning on doing a two-day workshop/boot camp for dancers on how to audition for a Broadway show."

He would never get the chance to impart all that wisdom. That's because on October 3, 2024,

Zellig Williams disappeared. "I'm Josh Mankowitz and this is Missing in America, a podcast from Date Line." This episode is The Day Zellig vanished. Please listen closely because you or someone you know may have information that could help Zellig's family find the answers they're looking for. Zellig Williams was born in the Palmetto State, South Carolina. He had two older sisters and was raised by his mother, Kathy Williams. "He was a awesome no boy." Zellig's aunt,

Christine Barber saw her nephew blossom. "He was very energetic, loving caring. He clung to his mom. He loved his family dearly. His cousins, his grandma. He just loved everybody." "Family was an anchor in his life. So was the church. Here's his cousin, Mioca, Corbyte Jacobs." "He was full of faith and he was full of belief for his life." Zellig spoke about that nexus between faith and career. On the podcast, a time to live with Amanda Jane Cooper. "I grew up

in the church and I grew up having a, I felt like I had a connection with God. My sister sang at church and so I just followed their lead." Looking back, that was probably the start of something. I sort of get the feeling he was a performer from very young. "Yes, at the

Probably at age of two or three, my baby girl used to stop and she come home ...

from him. He just sit and look and he just picked up just like that." "A born dancer?" "Yes." In 2004, the William's family faced a brutal tragedy. Both of Zellig's sisters were killed in a car accident. Zellig was just seven years old. "At the my daughters had passed on, I had to find something

to keep him focused." That's how Zellig met Caroline Lewis Jones at a dance studio in Ermo,

South Carolina. She would become his friend and mentor. "I'll never forget the day

while I'd in a dance class. Some people are just naturally born with it and some people will have to work really hard to achieve what they want. He did both." Zellig graduated high school in 2014. He took a deep breath and made a big leap. He moved to New York City to attend Pace University where he studied dance. "In the battle between Broadway and going to school, sounds like maybe school lost. Did he finish or how did he balance that?" "It got too

a little bit and he set out for the while." On Amanda Jane Cooper's podcast, he talked about

the pressures he'd been facing. "So there was a phase where I got to a breaking point of doing

school in the show at the same time. I wasn't like failing or anything but it was it wasn't my best

because I was trying to do everything. I was stretching myself to quit." "But he went back and got just to quit." "Which made you very happy." "Yes, of course." "Did you go see him on Broadway?" "I did. I would day I'm all the time." Zellig's big break did not end with Hamilton. After two years in that cast, he went on tour with Hugh Jackman in his 2019 global concert tour, the man, the music, the show. Then in 2022, came a featured part in another Broadway hit.

MJ, the musical. Here's Zellig introducing himself on the show's TikTok feed. "My name is Zellig Williams

and I'm on solvo slash Marlin Jackson and MJ the musical." On Instagram, he posted a clip from a

curtain call. And a moment of celebration after he took on an even bigger role playing Michael Jackson. Zellig spent nearly a decade building his career in New York. By 2024, Zellig had left the cast of MJ the musical and was looking for his next gig. Since he no longer had to be in New York to perform in eight shows a week, Zellig found himself visiting home more and more. "He came back to visit me and he loved to come home and see my mom. He would go in the room with her saying to her,

read the Bible to her and stuff like that." Zellig's grandma passed away in April of that year. His cousin Mioca says after that loss, Zellig decided to come back to South Carolina for a longer stay. "He definitely wanted to spend a little bit more time with his mother. He of course went back to New York initially but then decided to come back to suspense some time." That did not mean he was giving up on returning to the stage. He kept his apartment in New York

and continued to audition remotely. He had his family or friends helping with the scripts and the audition. "So I mean this was going to be a temporary thing back home." "Right, in between his auditions Zellig wanted to share tips with other kids also hoping to make it the Broadway one day." "I've auditioned for a lot of other Broadway shows." "So he came up with the idea for a workshop posting about it on Instagram." "So I wanted to

give my knowledge back to the students out here in Columbia and nearby areas on how to audition for

a Broadway show because there is skills that you need to have before even getting into the room."

"This is somebody who once they had achieved their dream like still wanted to help other people achieve theirs." That kind of tells you a lot about who he was. "Yeah, yes. Hello everybody, save the date September 27th and September 28th. Those will be the days we will be doing this boot camp." Unfortunately, when late September 2024 arrived, Mother Nature had other plans in the form of

Hurricane and a lean.

after hurricane Holene's devastating winds and heavy rain caused widespread damage

throughout the state. "The studio that he was having it out, they had to cancel it because

all the electricity was out." Caroline says, "Zellie was working on rescheduling will workshop for October." Then came Thursday, October 3rd, 2024. Zellie's mom,

Kathy, remembers that morning as routine. That first. "I went outside on the front porch and you saw

I was sitting out there and he came back in the house. And the next thing I know, he came back with past shorts on his top and lovely flops and a picture of him, headshot." "What your headshot?" "A headshot." "And he's a mama." "How you slept like that?" "I slept a good like that. I saw you slept. He saw a good like 92." Then he walked down, got in the vehicle and then he drove on. "Did he say where he was going?" "No."

Kathy says Zellie left their home around 9.50 a.m. She thought he was going to the local

staples to make copies of his headshot because that was something Zellie would routinely do.

After he left, she was getting ready for the day when her phone rang. It was one of Zellie's

friends from New York. "And she said, "Good morning, Ms. Kathy." I said, "What's up?" She said that S.O.S. just came to my phone and I said, "What's going on?" "The friend received that alert from Zellie's phone at 10 o'clock a.m. An S.O.S. alert can be set up on your phone. If your phone detects a severe car crash, it will notify your emergency contacts or contact emergency services."

"I said Zellie just left home. I could be an accident that fast. I said, "Well,

I'm going to go ride out and see where he's accidentally at what?"

Zellie could only have been gone around 20 minutes, so Kathy drove to that staples. No sign of Zellie or any accident. Then the friend from New York told Kathy, "Where they saw the S.O.S. alert was activated. It was near a place called Angel's Diner

in the opposite direction of the staples." I said, "I never heard of that before,

so they gave me an address." "I know that this had to be terribly stressful for you." "Yes, it was." "Because you had already lost your daughter's in a traffic accident." "Yes." Kathy kept searching and drove to Angel's Diner herself. The GPS directed her to a strip of asphalt called Highway 378, known locally as Garner's Ferry Road. There was nothing in the street outside,

nothing just thing. No, our parts, no broken glass, nothing. Nothing, nothing. Kathy is not the only one who went out to investigate. The Richland County Sheriff's Department got Zellie's S.O.S. alert as well. "When that came in, I would definitely did respond to that area." That is investigator J.P. Smith. He is spent four decades working in law enforcement. "On one side of the road is a Diner. The other side of the road is

a trail of business. That's a heavily traveled area. We would like to think that of an accident did occur. We would have gotten a call. But when the deputies arrived in that area, there was no sign of accident. Smith is familiar with the S.O.S. alert. It's advantages and it's flaws. "For the years I've been in law enforcement, I have seen the S.O.S. alert get activated both when somebody's an accident and when they accidentally dropped their phone.

There could be drive in a car, they slam on brakes, the phone flies forward, hits the floor, I have seen it where somebody is talking on the phone and the phone drops out their hand and it activates the S.O.S. Don't a thing that we can say is activated because the phone had an impact with something." Regardless, his department checked with the highway patrol and they had no record of accident taking place or anything like that. "They also searched the area near

that Diner, hoping to find the phone that had initiated the alert. They did not find it or anything else. "Unsure what else she could do, Kathy decided to head home and describes the waiting as "cangamy." "I just wait on it, I just wait on. I can't even phone."

"All of this felt downright weird to Kathy.

them. I keep calling his phone, keep calling his phone, he never answered the phone."

"Wait that night, Kathy called 911." She says two young deputies from the Richland County Sheriff's Department responded to her home. "I was telling them that my son is missing and I don't know where he's at and they said, "Well, you saw him had a birthday, I said yes he did had a birthday in September and they said, "Well, he probably still had their pot in gone places and just with that. I said, "No, my son don't party like that." "On October 4th, after 24 hours with no

word from Zellick, Kathy called her sister Christine." "I was at work and she called me,

she said, "Christina, come home last night, I think he's missing, so I got off work, I left and

I came down here right away." Christine believed something was wrong, so she called 911

and told the operator about Zellick. The Richland County Sheriff's Department came back later that day. Investigators asked more questions this time and took an official missing person's report. When investigators Smith was a son, Zellick's case, he quickly agreed this was not someone just out partying. "He has not contacted family, his normal operations have not taken place, so we're looking at it as a missing person in any missing person case, it's serious."

Smith's team of investigators began the search for Zellick Williams. "We had numerous people

a pot of the search, our air team, the drone operators, the canons, it was a large number of people

involved in the search." "They ruled out that theory about Zellick going to staples." "That was

what she thought because of him having his photograph and a headshot with him." Investigators found no evidence he had been there that day. "We have nothing to say that he went to staples." And after a few days of searching, law enforcement received a mysterious eyewitness tip. "They saw someone fitting Zellick's description down into the park." "Could that point then in the right direction?" "You want to believe you're safe in the heartland and it just changed." "On the murder in the

heartland podcast from ID, we'll examine true stories that happened in a town a lot like yours."

"I regret not telling the police. I knew who did it. I wanted the person to pay for what they

had done to her." "There was a sense of blood thirst. We have to get revenge." "Listen to murder in the heartland, wherever you get your podcasts." In 1994, 26-year-old Shelley Julesson vanished without a trace from Bismarck. "With Michelle we do suspect fall play." In the series, call me Shelley Dakota Spotlight podcast asks, "Who was harassing Shelley Julesson? Why are a hundred pages of her police file missing? Join Dakota Spotlight podcast and exploring what happened to Shelley Julesson."

Call me Shelley is now also a documentary film, search Dakota Spotlight or visit callmeshellyfilm.com. The show is an original podcast that features people you might have heard of, such as Heather Elvis, who went missing from South Carolina in December of 2013. And others you might not have heard of, like in Rieke Roman Martinez, who disappeared while camping with fellow soldiers from Fort Bragg at the Cape Lookout National Sea Shore Memorial Day

Weekend 2020. I also dig deep into the news archives for stories like Diane Gabriel, the North Carolina Real Estate agent who vanished after making an appointment to look at a house on the shores of Lake Norman in 1983. Look for missing in the Carolina's wherever you get your podcasts. When someone goes missing, loved one's left behind, often go back over every conversation, every interaction, every moment before that person disappeared.

Kathy Williams has done all of that, trying to figure out what her son Zellig's thoughts were in the days before he vanished. You have to have looked back over your conversations with him,

Kathy that day and the day before anything unusual, he sound different, you g...

that he was planning something? Oh no, no, no sir, none at all. And he didn't seem unhappy or

distressed or worried or angry or anything. No, he was not like that. Kathy says she did not

notice anything unusual, but there is no question Zellig had been struggling. The family says while Zellig was living in New York, he'd been facing some mental health issues. Doctors had prescribed him medication. He even spoke about that in a podcast he created, called human in the mirror. I'm glad to be where I'm at with everything that I've been through and where I'm at with my health, the journey, my mental health journey, my self-love journey. That was eight months before

he went missing. He was taking his medication for his mental health. He was working so hard. Kathy shared that information and everything else she could about Zellig, with the Richland County Sheriff's Department. By the end of the night on October 4th, 2024,

investigators located the Red Ford Escape Zellig was driving. The SUV was left in a parking lot

at the intersection of McCord's ferry road and bluff road near Watery, South Carolina. That is about half an hour's drive from the Williams home and about 20 minutes from Angel's diner, where the SLS alert went off. Friend Caroline says, "It was unfamiliar to Zellig's loved ones."

When I first went out, I got lost in times, like it's in the middle of nowhere.

Investigator J.P. Smith says his team went over the SUV. There was no obvious damages or anything to the car. There was nothing outstanding about it that we saw, but we did look into the car. Smith confirmed they found some of Zellig's belongings inside. I can't comment on what was located in the car because part of the investigation.

The family says everything Zellig had with him when he left that morning except his phone

was found in the car. "If I'm the car, where does clothes fall up in it?" "It's you." "That's Kathy's because the clothes were folded in her mind. Zellig would not have folded his clothes neatly like that." He wouldn't have. Now, investigators also processed the car's data. They would not comment on the information that revealed. However, the family learned

that was not Zellig's first trip to the area near the parking lot. We know the day before on Wednesday

October 2nd that Zellig had been driving in that area. "Anything about that area familiar to him or to any of you?" "No." "It's like it's major farmland." The parking lot where Zellig's car was found is located at the Palmetto Trailhead. It's an entrance to a hiking trail, which stretches nearly 500 miles across South Carolina from the mountains to the coast. The trail off that parking lot is wooded and crosses miles of

wetlands and rivers swamp with multiple bridges, and places where people can fish, canoe, and kayak. "The trailhead is a very properly trail. People come in from out of town just to walk that trail. It's huge. It's huge." The Richland County Sheriff's Department walked that trail and found no sign of Zellig, so they turned to local news media for help. On October 5th, they put out a press release about Zellig. "Deppities with the Richland County Sheriff's Department are asking

for your help and locating a missing 28-year-old man." "Just like in any other missing person case, we push all the information we can out to the public because if someone sees something, we want them to say something." And, someone did. A volunteer doing maintenance on the Palmetto Trail reached out and said he was approached by someone who said they'd seen a man on the trail, who was in some type of distress. The description, the eyewitness gave, matched that of Zellig Williams.

The volunteer told investigators he went down the trail to see if he could find that person. But was unable to do so. That Tip came complete with a problem. That volunteer did not get contact information for the eyewitness. An investigator Smith says, "They have not been able to identify that person." "We haven't talked to that person, we don't know who that is." "Still,

That tip, vague as it was, did give investigators an area to focus their search.

ATVs, airplane, drones. You name it, we used it."

Local NBC affiliate WIS document of the efforts and kept Zellig the name in the new cycle.

"A very active search is underway right now. Right now, family members are continuing on with their own search." Given Zellig's Broadway profile, it did not take long for his disappearance to hit social media, too. By desperately need your help in finding this man, if you know anything or think you have seen him, please contact the police or their Tip line. "Even Hugh Jackman, who worked with Zellig on his touring show, posted on Instagram saying, quote, "Zellig, we love you and are praying for your

safe return." National news stories followed. "We are now hearing from the family of a missing

Broadway dancer who vanished in South Carolina." With all that attention, cashing at her family knew they needed someone to take charge. Cousin Miyoka took on that role. She began fielding interview

requests, talking with investigators, and coordinating search efforts. She quickly found out

she had a lot more questions than answers. "There's limited resources about how to support my cousin. How do I help organize this search? What do we do? How do we get missing flyers? How do we get those out?" Early on the black and missing foundation helped create and

distribute flyers. Other organizations such as we are the essentials and missing link whose mission is

to support families of the missing and guide them through crisis also stepped up. There's not much about playbook on this I know. Well, I'm working with missing link now to write it because I come from a very corporate infrastructure with Verizon on retired as a chief of staff for the senior vice president of the customer care. So I'm just used to play books and there's no playbook that exists. And I can't imagine another family going through that." On October 16th, 2024,

13 days after Zellie disappeared. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott held a press conference.

"I want to thank all the media for being here today because you play a very important part

and bring enclosure to this family and helping us to find Mr. Williams. We need help of the community, we need help from everybody to be involved and to search." Mioca also spoke at the press conference. She shared those details about Zellie's mental health and said that when he vanished Zellie did not have his medication with him. "Right before Zellie went missing, he stopped taking his medicine is the belief, okay? And that

would put him in a situation that he would be very, very vulnerable, all right?" "Mom, Kathy also stepped up to the mic. Were they raw and emotional play?" "I guess well, Zellie, come home. Y'all like that. Y'all like that. Y'all like that." It was a difficult time in Richland County, still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Haleen, which had hit nearly three weeks earlier. "South Carolina is recovering from Hurricane Haleen.

We have seen so much damage in the area from down trees to down power lines." Undeterred, a group of volunteers from the community came to assist in the search. "I just was so appreciative of how many people came to support. It won't be an easy search, but they're going to continue to look for as much as they can." Investigators Smith says damage from the Hurricane made their search efforts

along the Palmetto Trail, much more challenging. "The landscape had totally changed. The water from the storm had pushed things up probably in a safe estimate three to four feet higher. So there were a lot of safety concerns and numerous searches were done pertaining to that area." Zellie's friend Caroline says she and her husband even took boots out of the river to look for him. "It's like a very sneaky river. The water was

extremely high that day. So you're dealing with a lot of variables in terms of the environment and how the landscape changed. So if he did have somehow end up in the water, that would be very tricky." Days became weeks with no sign of Zellie and no news. His family was growing more and more anxious and their thoughts were about to lead them

To even darker places.

particular direction? "No, the only direction those searches point us into is

foul play."

"I don't know what you've come to expect from a true crime podcast, but I guarantee you,

crime junkie is all of that and more. I'm Ashley Flowers and I'm Brett and every Monday we dissect some of the most mysterious cases." But listen, we're not just rehashing what you can read for yourself online. We have a team of dedicated investigative reporters and producers who I work with for months on every single episode. But the show still feels like having a conversation with your best friend. If your best friend was attractive, but like a good detective. So join us

and tune into crime junkie every Monday wherever you get your podcasts."

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The good, the bad, and the ugly on social media.

Zellig Williams, ever the performer. Took it all a step further. Hello, hello, welcome to "Human in the Mirror with Zellig Will." That's Zellig, in that podcast he released eight months before he disappeared. He shared updates there about his professional life.

This is my first time as a professional performer. Now I have an a job and I'm in a new season of

transition. He shared even more on Instagram, like dancing videos, excerpts of his singing. As well as those personal details about his mental health. "I'm sharing because I know there might be some other brother out there that might be struggling." He also spoke about a different struggle he was facing. Hello, everyone. This is Zellig. I wanted to hop on here and just let you guys know a testimonial

on my side. I've been delivered from homosexuality. I'm thankful to be where I'm there right now. "I just struggle with this for so long and I feel free. I feel like I can be myself again." That video begins with him saying, "I've been delivered from homosexuality," which feels like some admission of shame from him, which I heard that I felt so bad for him. Yes, so just think about what we have to think about even as a family is. Zellig is a free spirit.

He's a beautiful soul, right? At the age of 18 or 19, he's in New York and he is involved in Broadway and meeting a lot of people having a lot of experiences with his traveling. He's had a lot of experiences and he was impressionable and young and now he's older and he's trying to figure it out. "Kazim Yoka says that as much as Zellig shared online, he didn't talk much with his family about his sexuality. It feels like he was wrestling with his sexuality."

Oh, absolutely. He's figuring it out. It wasn't like anybody was cutting him off because of his sexuality or maybe any of those issues. Nobody was threatening to throw him out of the family or stop talking to him. Right. I don't know about you guys, but I don't have conversations about my sexuality to my mom. Right, that's not the topic of discussion. Right.

So, could all the different struggles, Zellig was facing, have led him to harm himself. His family doesn't think so. He had stuff he wanted to do. He was interested in this camp.

He was planning on going back to New York, going back on stage.

abruptly decided to stop. You know, none of that says "self-harm" to me.

No. He had tried out some parts and had gotten a callback or either a part of what's

supposed to start in January and jam. He was excited about his future. Plus, they all say Zellig was a mama's boy. After the loss of his sisters, that attachment only grew. This family does not think Zellig would put Kathy through the pain of losing another child. There was no question the love for his mother was evident. He knows what they went through together and he wouldn't leave her.

Yeah. Zellig was too spiritual. Yes. He was too spiritual and he didn't. It's hard to believe he would want to put you through that again.

No, no, no. No, no. He would never leave her.

When I first started reading about this, I thought to myself, this story's different. This person

did this to himself. This is not somebody else is doing. But the more I read about this and the more I talk to you guys, it's really just not clear. I mean, you do have this sort of mental health component and you do have some sort of feeling of shame or anguish that comes out of that Instagram video. But on the other hand, like this guy is not going to disappear and you behind. No, exactly. And what you don't have is his journals. What you don't have is his dreams and what

he, his intent was, right? And there is no intent to do any harm to himself or in no intent. You can have moments where you're sad or you're going through things. But if I get anything from all the things our readers is, Zellig was full of hope. So if Zellig did not harm himself, could something else have it? Maybe an accident. His family is not sure. With no evidence of that and no solid leads, they had to consider another more disturbing possibility.

What did you think it happened, Kathy? I, I really don't know. I just say it's somebody guy.

You think this is foul play? I think our consensus is just based on all the information that we

have is that yes, we do believe that foul play is involved. In their minds, foul play could suggest different scenarios. They wonder if Zellig was going to the trailhead to meet up with someone and maybe the encounter went wrong. If he went there to meet someone, no idea who. No. Zero. Or a second scenario. Maybe someone haunts Zellig in another location and then moved his car to the trailhead. There's a possibility that someone drove that car and parked it there.

For us to believe that that's where Zellig was. And the phone's never been found. So

right, the doubts never picked up a cent at all never. Given how active Zellig was online, that's someone could have been anyone. He was constantly auditioning and talking to people in his room on his laptop through Zoom, auditioning, preparing for launch. And so he experienced spirituality, having meetings with that as well. Zellig followed some various specific public figures in terms of, you know, some different churches and

prophets that he was very connected to and you know, journaled about them and he tagged them. Zellig was immersing himself in multiple congregations. He'd gotten baptized and was joining young adult and men's groups. He was really trying to find community here in Colombia. Do you have any sense that anybody that he was in contact with from any of the churches that he was involved with was trying to control Zellig or might have in any way been involved in this? Everything's on the table,

but yes, we have thought of, yes, of all those things. Thought of all of those things, but there's but there's nothing pointing to that right now. No. There's kind of nothing pointing to anything. You're right. Investigators say they have done their best to track the data from Zellig's digital footprint, trying to find any of the people he'd been interacting with online before he disappeared. We have access some information pertaining to the phone records. I can't go into detail

with that because we are still dealing with an open investigation. Of course, it makes it harder when you don't have the actual phone, but that information is still being looked into. Zellig had two computers as well, which Smith's team is still examining. Those computers were brought to our

Attention and we're all living into both of those matters.

has to keep some secrets. We still have this open case. We don't know where it's going to lead,

so we're protective of information because we want to find Zellig. We can't comment on his medical

state. We speak to the family on a regular basis. They voice their concerns to us and we're going to consider all of that information that we're receiving from the family. We was talking with numerous people that knew him, that worked with him. If there is someone, investigators have missed Smith wants to hear from them. If someone or anyone has information that calls his them concern about who he may have came in contact with, we encourage them to give us a call,

so we can look into it, and if they can tell us why they have concerns about it. People who

were in Columbia or at the church had during this time days before days after they had a family

and family reunion, anything just give us a call. Someone else they would like to talk with,

that loan eyewitness who reported seeing someone who looked like Zellig in the park on the day he disappeared. If that person hears this or hear any other news feed, we want that person to come back and say what they saw and exactly where they saw that. Investigators Smith says he and his team have not ruled anything out. We're still looking into it. It's still a definitely active

investigation that's going on. The searches for Zellig are ongoing. The families beginning to play

in their next one for October. The state of South Carolina has a motto, "Dom Spiro Spiro." Translated from the Latin. It means, "While I breathe, I hope."

For Zellig's loved ones, those words ring very true. Do you think you stole life?

I think so. I hope so. We understand the likelihood of Zellig still being present with us is slim. We know the probabilities, but the possibility is that he is alive. We want answers period and we just pray. Yeah, those things. As his family approaches the two-year anniversary of his disappearance this fall, they remember Zellig as a performer, a son, a friend.

A young man worked hard and dreamed big. If you have any information about Zellig Williams' disappearance, please come forward. Zellig Williams is about five foot nine and 175 pounds with brown eyes. He will turn 30 in September. Anyone with information about Zellig's disappearance should call the Richland County Sheriff's Department at 803-576-3000 or the Midland Crime Stoppers at 1-888-Crime-SC.

To look at pictures of Zellig and to learn about other people we've covered in our missing in America series, go to dateline missing in America.com. There you will also be able to submit cases you think we should cover in the future. Thanks for listening. We'll see you Friday's for dateline on NBC or you can stream anytime on peacock, YouTube or by subscription on the NBC News app. You can also listen to full dateline episodes and original podcast series, wherever you're

listening right now. Subscribe to dateline premium for early access and add free listening for all our podcasts. Missing in America is a production of dateline and NBC News. Veronica Mosaica is the producer of this episode. Sarah Dolberg is the associate producer. Brian Drew is the editor. Bradley Davis is senior producer.

Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer. From NBC News Audio, Jessica Fenton is head of audio production. I don't know what you've come to expect from a true crime podcast, but I guarantee you,

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