Mother Of Missing Broadway Dancer Zelig Williams Collapses Into Arms Of Family Member At Police Press Conference, Sobbing “Please Bring My Baby Home”
The mother of missing Broadway dancer Zelig Williams made a tearful, heartbreaking plea today asking for information on her son’s whereabouts.
“I just want Zelig to come home,” said Kathy Williams, surrounded by family during a press conference organized by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in South Carolina. Within seconds, she collapsed into the arms of a cousin and was helped off the staging area as she sobbed and repeated, “He’s all I got, he’s all I got, he’s all I got, please bring my baby home.”
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Kathy Williams lost her other two children – Zelig’s sisters – in a 2004 automobile accident.
The press conference can be viewed here.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott opened the press conference this morning with a brief statement that “We feel confident there are people out in the community who may know something that can help us but just not realizing they have the last key to the puzzle.”
Lott said the press conference today was organized to give the Williams family an opportunity to address the community. He did not provide new information regarding possible developments in the case, but said that “every means of manpower” has been used by the department in the search, and that law enforcement “will continue to search to find him.”
Broadway dancer Williams, 28, who performed in MJ The Musical, Hamilton and Hugh Jackman’s 2019 tour The Man. The Music. The Show, went missing near Columbia, South Carolina, on October 3. He had recently relocated back to his hometown from New York City and was working as a dance teacher.
Shortly after he went missing, his car was found in a parking lot near Congaree National Park about 20 miles southeast of Columbia. The family has said that at least one friend in New York City received an SOS cellphone alert from Williams’ phone the night he went missing, indicating a car crash. The car found in the parking lot, though, bore no signs of an accident.
Police have said that the case is being investigated as a missing person, but that foul play has not been ruled out.
The case was brought to national attention when Hugh Jackman posted an Instagram story seeking information on Williams’ whereabouts and pleading for the public’s help.
At the press conference today, Zelig’s cousin Mieoki Corbett-Jacobs said through tears that Zelig, called Z by family and friends, is believed to have stopped taking medication before he went missing and “may seem to be in distress or even in a trance like state.” She added that without the medication, which was not identified, her cousin “is very, very vulnerable.”
In his opening remarks, Lott said, “The last voice you hear in this press conference is going to be his mom and I want you to listen to the words that she says and I want that to touch you like it should touch you…The most powerful thing that’s said up here is going to come from the mom.”
According to local law enforcement, Williams is a Black male with a light complexion, 6’0”, 150lbs, has short black hair, brown eyes, and a birthmark on his throat.
Anyone who may have seen Williams or has information is urged to call the Richland County Sheriff’s Department at (803) 576-3000 or contact Crime Stoppers at crimesc.com.
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