As the search for missing Broadway dancer Zelig Williams enters its fourth month, family members have expressed growing certainty that his mysterious disappearance involves foul play, shifting their focus away from initial theories about his fate. Williams, 28, was last seen departing his mother’s Columbia, South Carolina, residence on Oct. 3, 2024, carrying a portfolio of headshots. The Independent reports that within 24 hours, authorities discovered his abandoned vehicle in the Palmetto Trail parking lot near Congaree National Park, approximately 17 miles from Columbia.
Williams, known for performances in Hamilton and MJ The Musical and the Apple TV+ movie Spirited, had returned to his hometown and was teaching dance classes when he vanished. The case attracted national attention when Hugh Jackman, who worked with Williams during his 2019 tour The Man. The Music. The Show shared a social media plea: “Zelig, we love you and are praying for your safe return.”
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In a recentย Facebook update, Williams’ cousin, Mieoki Corbett-Jacobs, outlined the family’s evolving perspective. “The search will continue, but not in the areas that we’ve searched before… We do not believe that Zelig is in the water and we ABSOLUTELY believe that there is foul play related to his disappearance. We know someone knows something and may be too afraid to come forward, we pray that the Creator will touch their heart and mind and move them to help us.”
The Independent reveals that concerns escalated when one of Williams’ New York friends received an SOS alert indicating a car crash on the day of his disappearance. However, when authorities located his vehicle, it showed no signs of damage.
The case carries particular poignancy for Williams’ mother, Kathy, who lost her other children in a car accident two decades ago. “That’s why it is so special when you see him perform,” Corbett-Jacobs told The Independent. “He is dancing with his sisters in his heart. He feels them with him.”
“This has been over three months of longing for, searching for, giving everything you have, oh and just forget sleep,” Corbett-Jacobs added. “There’s not a morning we don’t wake up with something on our mind, and there’s not a night that we don’t go to bed without thinking about him.”
Caroline Lewis Jones, described as one of Williams’ “mentors” and “dance moms,” expressed hope for a breakthrough. “We do feel like somebody knows something and just hope that they will dig deep inside themselves and imagine what this would be like to be his mother, his aunt, his family who love him so much and not know where your loved one is,” she told The Independent.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who previously announced that investigators hadn’t ruled out foul play, continues to seek public assistance. The family noted that Williams may have stopped taking prescribed mental health medications around the time of his disappearance, potentially leaving him vulnerable.
“We’re not going to stop,” Corbett-Jacobs declared. “As a family, we’re going to continue to follow any thoughts, leads, ideas that we might have, to look for anything that might lead us to Zelig. There is no stone that will be left unturned.”
Despite extensive searches by law enforcement, family members, local volunteers, and the national organization We Are The Essentials, no trace of Williams has been found. A $10,000 reward remains available for information leading to his discovery. Anyone with information regarding Williams’ whereabouts is urged to contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Department at (803) 576-3000 or Crime Stoppers at 888-CRIME-SC.
