$10,000 reward temporarily offered for information on disappearance of Kenneth Williams

Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers and the Beaver County Crime Solvers are temporarily offering an increased reward in hopes of finding a local man who disappeared over a decade ago.

Investigators are offering a reward of $10,000 from Oct. 20-27 for information on the disappearance of Kenneth Williams, who has been missing since May 2011. Investigators believe Williams may have been the victim of foul play, but have not been able to determine what happened to him after his car was found out of state.

"Foul play is definitely expected in this case, just based on the information that we know," said Timmie Patrick, a detective with the Beaver County detectives working on Williams' case. "He's missing for a reason, so we're going to treat it as such into his proven otherwise or until we come across additional evidence."

Williams was first reported missing on May 4, 2011, kicking off the search for him in Beaver County. While there are some recorded interactions with family members in Ambridge before his disappearance, investigators say the last "hard time" Williams was seen was by a source who had interacted with him in Monaca on April 29, 2011.

On May 15, Williams' car was discovered in a remote location in Westmoreland County in West Virginia. Investigators in West Virginia and officers from the Ambridge Police Department searched the areas around the vehicle, but there weren't any signs of Williams after this stop on the mountain. Investigators began to focus on the idea of foul play in the disappearance around this time, as leaving the secluded area without a trace would have likely taken another person and a second vehicle to be present.

"You're just not going to walk out of there," Patrick said. "It's a heavy wooded area, so if the vehicles were there, he was probably accompanied by another vehicle."

While there was very little evidence found around the area in West Virginia, local police officers did bring Williams' vehicle back to Beaver County to search for clues inside of the car. Throughout this process, some interesting clues were noted by investigators.

"There's a bunch of weird things with [the car]," Young said. "When the vehicle was towed back to Ambridge, local detectives processed the vehicle. One of the strange things was that Kenny was lactose intolerant, but investigators had found an empty carton of milk in the car."

Despite the odd find, no DNA was taken from this milk carton during the initial investigation and the container was eventually discarded. While detectives currently working the case wish they could get their hands on this essential piece of the puzzle, they acknowledge investigators working on the case over a decade ago didn't have the same amount of forensic resources that police use today.

"In 2011, DNA testing technology wasn't at the level where it is today," Young said. "For things like touch DNA, I wasn't there, but I'm sure that investigators at the time kind of thought of that. But in all these cold cases, you look back and say 'Why didn't they do DNA?' or this and that."

"That's why every so often, it's good to have a fresh pair of eyes looking at cases," Patrick said. "Sometimes clear eyes can actually see a little bit more of an investigative tool, like the milk carton."

Over a decade later, investigators aren't sure what caused Williams to drive to that secluded spot in West Virginia without any warnings. While investigators say that Williams was known to suffer from some mental health issues, he was not known to be involved in any illicit activities and was close to his family, so it is unlikely he would attempt to suddenly go off the grid.

One theory posed by investigators is that Williams' disappearance was linked to his gambling habits, which often took him anywhere from casinos in the region to underground gambling circles. If large amounts of money had become involved with this habit, it may have led to another party taking notice.

"From what we gathered, he wasn't that good of a gambler, "Patrick said. "We started exploring the possibility that maybe he got in over his head, or that he may owe some people or parties more money than what he had. It was not out of the realm of possibilities that he would gamble on binges, just gambling for days at a time."

The search has continued for Williams for 11 years, adapting with the changing technology police use to find missing persons. DNA has advanced significantly over the past decade, including the construction of The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). Willaims' DNA is present in the national database, so any positive matches may help pin down where he has gone.

Digital alerts are also able to send red flags to investigators if anyone uses Williams' information, which has provided some leads over the years. In one instance, a bus ticket was bought in Detroit to Pittsburgh under the name Kenneth Williams. Once investigators were notified of the purchase, they quickly jumped into action.

"County detectives, along with the Ambridge Police Department and assisted by the Pittsburgh Homicide Unit, waited for his bus to come back. But, there was no Kenneth Williams on there. He didn't even get on the bus from the Detroit area, but we still had to make sure we explored those possibilities."

To encourage those who possibly have information on Williams to come forward, the Beaver County Crime Solvers will be offering a temporary reward of $5,000 to callers who report details on the disappearance. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers will match the reward during this period, which will increase the payout to $10,000 for information.

"With all these cold cases, media is hyper-critical to our efforts," Young said. "Relationships change, people change, terrain changes, things like that. So, we're just really hoping to create awareness, trying to boost that message in hope that somebody out there knows something."

Callers can anonymously contact the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or the Crime Solvers at 724-774-2000.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: $10,000 reward offered for information on disappearance of Kenneth Williams