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Crime Junkie

MISSING: Zelig Williams

A rising Broadway star. A mysterious SOS alert. And a car left abandoned at a trailhead wrecked by Hurricane Helene. When 28-year-old Zelig Williams vanishes on October 3rd, 2023, there’s no sign of a crash, his phone, or him. Is this the result of a mental health emergency, a tragic accident or did someone lure Zelig into the woods, never intending to let him leave?
Duration
35m
Broadcast on
27 Nov 2025
Audio Format
other

A rising Broadway star. A mysterious SOS alert. And a car left abandoned at a trailhead wrecked by Hurricane Helene. When 28-year-old Zelig Williams vanishes on October 3rd, 2024, there’s no sign of a crash, his phone, or him. Is this the result of a mental health emergency, a tragic accident or did someone lure Zelig into the woods, never intending to let him leave?

  • If you have any information on the disappearance of Zelig Williams, you can contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Department at 803-576-3000. If you’d like to remain anonymous, you can call the Crime Stoppers of the Midlands at 888-274-6372.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.

 

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This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is one of the world's leading online therapy services. Now, insurance options may be available nationwide, with average copays of just $23 per session for eligible members. Because isn't the only thing holding people back, most of us weren't taught stress management. Therapy gives you tools to keep stress from building. BetterHelp works with more than 125 health plans, making it easy to get started with low-cost sessions. Don't have eligible insurance? Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/crimejunky. Cost and coverage may vary. Discount cannot be combined with insurance. Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Brit. And the story I have for you today is about a 28-year-old Broadway star leaving home on a seemingly normal day. And the only alert that something is wrong is an SOS crash alert sent from his phone. Except there is no crash scene. His phone is nowhere to be found. And neither is he. This is the story of Zellig Williams. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] It's around 10 o'clock in the morning on October 3, 2024 when Kathy Williams' phone starts buzzing with a New York number that she doesn't recognize. Now, it's not all that weird. She's in South Carolina, but her 28-year-old son Zellig used to live in New York. She knows it's not him because he'd recently moved back to South Carolina and is living with her. I mean, she just saw him less than 20 minutes ago leaving with his headshots in hand. She thought he was going to make copies. So she answers the phone anyways. And it is one of her son's friends asking if he's OK. And she's like, what do you mean? And they tell her they just got an SOS notification that he had been in a wreck. Now, she doesn't need to hear anything more. She hangs up and she is out the door immediately heading straight for the staples five miles up the road where she thinks he was going to make copies. But she gets there and there is no sign of him. So she gets back in touch with that friend that called her. And they tell her, no, no, no, no, the SOS ping

Transcription truncated.

A rising Broadway star. A mysterious SOS alert. And a car left abandoned at a trailhead wrecked by Hurricane Helene. When 28-year-old Zelig Williams vanishes on October 3rd, 2023, there’s no sign of a crash, his phone, or him. Is this the result of a mental health emergency, a tragic accident or did someone lure Zelig into the woods, never intending to let him leave?