The bank accounts were closed, the lease on the house ended, etc. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. Calkins claims that he changed his mind about both arrests, and last saw the men after he dropped them at Circle K convenience stores. In separate incidents, both men were last seen after having been arrested by Deputy Steve Calkins, who claimed he had "changed his mind" about the arrests and dropped the men off at Circle K convenience stores. This contradicts Calkins's earlier statement that he never knew Williams's last name or any other personal details. In an audio recording of a call the officer then made to dispatch to have the car removed as a traffic hazard, the legal filing says, Calkins made numerous racial stereotype remarks about what kind of person could own the Cadillac he staged as abandoned. Calkins claimed that he changed his mind about the arrest, because Santos was "polite and cooperative", left him at a local Circle K, and drove off. Two months after he went missing, Marcia wrote a letter to the editor of the Naples Daily News with a plea to help find her son. His mother, Marcia Williams, is the right. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Ryan Watson Jr., the 15-year-old suspect in a deadly shooting at the DeSoto County Fair, will be tried as an adult. Lent him close to $100k. Despite not calling in the stop, Calkins drove off with Williams in the back, and later returned alone with the mans keys to move the car. "I just want answers for Marcia and the Santos family to know what happened," says Tyler Perry, "I think that's only fair. The term originated in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, and describes the practice of police driving individuals to the edge of town or outside of city limits, and abandoning them to find their own way home. Williams was the second man to vanish after an encounter with Calkins. Calkins defended his misstatements to the operator, telling investigators that he was just "joking around" with a coworker. Calkins has never been arrested or charged in the disappearances. He received commendations for helping to lift an overturned pickup off a man who was suffocating underneath. Calkins went to the crash scene and arrested Santos for driving without a license, but Santos was never booked into jail. There was no record of his call to Circle K and neither he nor Terrance was not seen in surveillance footage or by the employees there. He stopped talking to Collier sheriffs investigators after he was fired in late 2004 following an internal investigation that found Calkins was deceptive in a polygraph and gave inconsistent statements. That didnt happen until 2009. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Williams has been legally declared dead. Trending News: Was Matthew Weavers Body Ever Found? two men who vanishedafter separate encounters with the deputy in north Naples. Crump filed suit Friday against former Collier County deputy Steven Calkins on behalf of the family of Terrance Williams, a 27-year-old black man who vanished in January 2004 after Calkins. Investigation Discovery's 'Disappeared: Crime and Punishment' chronicle the disappearance of two men, a 27-year-old American named Terrance Williams and a 24. Details of the racially charged cold case came to light at a press conference in Naples on Tuesday, at which Tyler Perry, the prominent African American film-maker and activist, offered a $200,000 reward for information resulting in a criminal conviction of the officer. Calkins chapter is on "Competition Law in the United States." Stephen Calkins was a panelist at the 12th Annual Private Antitrust Enforcement Conference in Washington D.C. on Nov. 14. In June 1994, the 34-year-old ex-wife of American football star, O.J. He has never been charged in either case. However, the police department never issued an arrest warrant against him due to a lack of evidence. I want to know what happened to my child. Detectives looked into their disappearances at the time, including Calkins claims that he dropped both men off at a convenience store after changing his mind. The FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were looped into the investigation as investigators used various techniques, including placing a hidden GPS device in Stevens car as well as cadaver dogs. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Calkins said Williams appeared to be having car trouble near the Naples Memorial Gardens. Terrance Williams was last seen near a Naples cemetery in January 2004. O.J. And to this day Deputy Steve Calkins is a free man. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Deputies say they got a call about the shooting shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday morning. [1], One popular theory for the disappearances is the Starlight Tour theory. Santos received a ticket for reckless driving, and driving without a license and insurance. Former Naples Daily News reporter Ryan Mills contributed to this story. Gardner said he learned of the case in 2018 because he happened to be in Florida on vacation at the time and heard news reports. Before driving off with Williams, Calkins then asked the cemetery employees if he could leave the Cadillac in the lot. Please enter valid email address to continue. Typically, because arbitration isn't the final word, a plaintiff still can request a jury trial, but Marcia Williams' attorney didn't file a motion. The civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the victims families claims that the two men Terrance Williams, 27, and Felipe Santos, 24 were taken away in a squad car by Steven Calkins, a Collier county deputy, in January 2004 and October 2003 respectively but never booked into jail. There have been no verifiedsightings of the men since, according to the Collier sheriffs office. Other restrictions may apply. When Crump's attorneys. Because Calkins gave previous statements about the disappearances, it is unlikely he will refuse to answer questions in the deposition. . Steve Calkins is the former deputy in the Collier County Sheriff's Department. The Guardian left a message seeking comment at a telephone number listed for Calkins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Theyre suing Calkins for wrongful death. During an internal investigation Calkins failed a polygraph test pertaining to contact with Terrance Williams and ultimately refused to cooperate . Detectives believe Steven Calkins is the last person to have seen Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos alive before they each disappeared 16 years ago. Steve Calkins has never been arrested or convicted for the wrongful murder of two men who went missing after he detained them in 2003 and 2004. Marcia filed a complaint against Steve and an internal investigation against him was initiated. The lawsuit alleges that Calkins was on traffic patrol in January 2004 when he pulled over Williams, who was driving a white Cadillac. He was driving to work with his two brothers when he was involved in a minor car accident in Naples. CCSO says the thieves in recent distraction thefts typically use a ruse to approach senior citizens, usually in grocery store parking lots and remove the victims watch [], Cassandra Smith, accused of killing Charlotte County Deputy Christopher Taylor in a November DUI crash, was denied bond for a second time on Friday. Williams family said theyre missing important evidence Calkins himself. Emotional moments rushed through the crowd like waves as loved ones came to the site where the [], The Collier County Sheriffs Office is investigating a shooting at a Waffle House near Collier Boulevard and I-75. The disappearances have attracted national attention including from activist Al Sharpton and filmmaker Tyler Perry, who has offered a $200,000 reward for meaningful tips. Santos was a Mexican immigrant. Thinking Johnny had overslept, his parents went to wake him. Al Sharpton, left, and filmmaker Tyler Perry. Collier County sheriff's deputy Steve Calkins claimed both times to have changed his mind and left each of them at a different Circle K convenience store nearby. The family contacted the sheriff's department, and discovered that Calkins had not filed an incident report, nor had he made an arrest. For Marcia Williams, the story of her son's disappearance is about to get more complicated. recalls Marcia, "And I'm like, 'Oh my God, they found my baby, they found my baby!' The arbitration was unsealed and entered into judgment which translated to Steve being found not guilty and that Marcia would receive no damages on her claims. He, along with the other driver pulled into a parking lot to exchange information. In particular, he got fired from the department for providing the contradictory statement in the missing person cases of Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos in 2004. However, further investigation revealed that phone and surveillance records did not back up Calkins's story: there was no sign of Williams or Calkins on surveillance footage from the Circle K, and the phone records from Calkins's cell phone showed no call to the Circle K.[7] Circle K employees were interviewed, and no witnesses could be found to place Calkins or Williams there. Gonzalez became concerned when Williams did not return home and emailed Marcia on January 13 about his concerns. Sure its possible she was abducted elsewhere, but the fact is she was incapacitated and with those three men, then never seen again. the_expert_jd. When questioned he claims to not even know her, though its proven he does. Three fellow students escorted Smart back to her hall of residence after a party. By January 2004, Steven H. Steve Calkins was a Collier County Sheriffs Office Corporal who had served the forces for 17 years. [5] Williams's roommate, Jason Gonzalez, says he spoke to Terrance on the phone on the evening of Sunday, January 11, before heading to bed. Missing Case Update What Happened To Him? Hooley, in his motion against new trial, said the plaintiffs had adequate time to file a motion for new trial from the time it was rendered Nov. 24, 2020, to the judge's order, 27 days later on Dec. 21. At the scene of the crime they found two knives and a cryptic message written on the wall, along with mens boot prints on the balcony. xo_diablita, I think its pretty clear she died either from overdose or from her earlier fall, she died in either the Beth/Rossman apartment or the Rosenbaum apartment, and some combination of those three got rid of her body. Felipe Santos, a Mexican immigrant and Immokalee resident, disappearedat age 23in October 2003 after his brothers saw him get into Calkins patrol car. Calkins claimed that he returned to the Cadillac, and discovered that the proper registration was not in the car, and that he felt deceived, so he called Circle K from his work-issued cell phone and asked to speak to Williams. However, it was stated on the show that investigators got hold of the call record where Steve was making a tow request to the dispatch; the recording allegedly contained instances of racial slurs as well as conflicting statements on Steves part. In addition, the investigating team used the Cadaver dogs in the areas identified by the GPS. Calkins is believed to be the last known person to have seen Felipe Santos, 23, an immigrant from Mexico, and Terrance D. Williams, 27, a Black man, both of Naples, according to authorities and the lawsuit. Contacted at home by his department's dispatch a few days after Terrance Williams' disappearance, Calkins initially denied having had any interaction with Terrance and even failed to recall towing a Cadillac from the cemetery on January 12. Lets find out. All evidence points to her husband who was having a 14 year affair that involved property ownership with his mistress. "I receive a phone call from the Mexican consulate." [6] Calkins claimed he followed Williams to the cemetery parking lot, and that he had asked for a ride to a nearby Circle K convenience store because he was late for work. This statement contradicted both his incident report and the witness statements, both of which reported that Calkins himself moved the vehicle to its location blocking the road. They were all buddies. The first two episodes of the series are dedicated to the Williams and Santos story, and are narrated and executive produced by filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry, who became involved in the case after seeing a TV report about it. The cases remain open investigations. 'I dont recall' is probably going to be a fairly common answer, Miller said. Steve Calkins also was involved in the disappearance of a man that he pulled over three months before the disappearance of Terrance . Employees stated that Calkins patted Williams down and put him in the back of his patrol car. was the defendant in the murder trial, but he wasnt convicted, although he was found liable for the murders in a civil lawsuit. Only Johnny wasn't in bed. Initially thought to be a runaway incident, the case took a surprising turn when Terrances aunt was able to track down his Cadillac in a tow parking lot. Santos & Williams were apprehended by former Florida Chief Deputy Steve Calkins. What is equally surprising is that 50% were black men, women and children, so its a dynamic not known to many Americans, he said. Calkins, a former Illinois farmer, was a seventeen-year veteran road deputy with a clean disciplinary record who had worked for the Sheriff's Office since 1987. In December 2020, Crump filed a motion for reconsideration and a new trial but was denied on appeal in January 2022. Crump's team is now hoping to use Calkins' deposition to get the federal Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to reopen the investigation. Former Collier County Deputy Steve Calkins is heading to court to battle a wrongful death lawsuit that he has been up against for years. This is Andy Griffith., Crump, who has represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, said in the emailed statement that the civil lawsuit was more of a vehicle for discovery and truth since it was unknown if Calkins had collectible assets.. Steven Calkins is set to be deposed Tuesday as part of a civil wrongful death suit filed in 2018 by the mother of Terrance Williams on behalf of his estate. Nothing really has changed from February of 2004 to the filing of this complaint.. The car keys were found on the ground beside the car. Calkins told investigators he also took Williams to a Circle K and dropped him off, instead of arresting him, the lawsuit states. According to Collier County sheriff's reports, both men went missing within three months of each other - Santos on Oct. 14, 2003, and Williams on Jan. 12, 2004 - and under similar circumstances. COVID-19 has made that difficult. Williams is represented by the civil rights law firm of Ben Crump, which has represented the families of Trayvon Martin and Breonna Taylor. According to the Fort Myers Police Department, a pedestrian was transported as a trauma alert from the crash on Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard and French Street. When Terrance Williams goes missing, most law enforcement officers considered him a low-priority case thinking that he wanted or needed to disappear. Deposition is one of those things where you use each one of your legal senses., More coverage: What to know about missing Collier men Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos. Employees stated that Calkins was on traffic patrol in January 2022 over Williams, then... Detectives believe Steven Calkins is heading to court to battle a wrongful death lawsuit that was. Matthew Weavers Body Ever found the civil rights law firm of Ben Crump, has. 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