Kimberly Williams

Snapped: Women Who Murder

The podcast episode 'Snapped: Women Who Murder' explores the case of Kimberly Williams, who was accused of murdering her husband, Ron Williams, after he was found dead from a gunshot wound in his bed. Initially ruled a suicide due to his severe quadriplegia and history of depression, the investigation took a dramatic turn when a

Key takeaways

• The case hinges on conflicting interpretations of forensic evidence and the possibility that a quadriplegic man could have fired a lightweight firearm despite physical limitations.

Main topics

• Suicide vs. homicide in cases involving disabled individuals
• Forensic analysis of gunshot wounds and firearm accessibility

Notable quotes

"He said, in essence, if something happens to me, I have an autopsy done."

"I don't see him doing that. He said suicide is the one thing that God can't forget. Ron was not physically capable."

Conclusion

The case of Kimberly Williams remains a deeply tragic and complex legal and emotional story, highlighting the blurred lines between suicide, homicide, and caregiver

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:04) A beloved grandfather is found dead from an apparent suicide. Speaker 6 (0:09) There's a pistol in his hand. He's got a gunshot wound to his head. He had been severely disabled for some time. He was plagued with depression and suicidal ideations for the bulk of his adult life. Speaker 3 (0:27) But those who knew him best find it Speaker 4 (0:30) hard to believe. I don't see him doing that. He said suicide is the one thing that God can't forget. Ron was not physically capable. Speaker 5 (0:40) He could not have raised the gun up to shoot himself. Speaker 3 (0:44) After uncovering a message from the deceased, investigators question if this suicide is really something more sinister. He Speaker 4 (0:54) was saying he wasn't going to be made into a cuck in his own house. Speaker 7 (0:59) He said, in essence, if something happens to me, I have an autopsy done. Speaker 5 (1:05) He was kind of sleepy, tired, acting strange that evening, and our session was also cut short. Speaker 2 (1:13) I saw something was going on, something wasn't right between the two of them. Speaker 7 (1:18) There might be a motive in the amount of about a million dollars. Speaker 3 (1:36) March 14, 2019. A little after 3 p.m., emergency services in rural Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, receive a panicked call from 46-year-old Kimberly Williams. State police and paramedics quickly arrive on the scene. Kimberly directs them to the bedroom where they find the body of her husband, Ron Williams. Speaker 7 (2:19) When the police arrived, there was a determination that he could not be saved. He's in his hospital bed, slightly elevated, like he would have been watching TV, that kind of angle. And in his hand would have been the .22 pistol. And the bullet wound was in the right side, right temple area of his skull. Speaker 7 (2:43) The layout of everything in that room and the story that was provided made sense. Speaker 2 (2:49) Ms. Williams tells them that Speaker 7 (2:52) he had been depressed for a while. She said he had a stroke about six years prior and he was quadriplegic. He had limited use of his right arm, hasn't been able to really get out of bed or do anything that he used to be able to do. And so mentally, he just didn't want to go on. Speaker 7 (3:12) She did state that they were arguing earlier in the day. She was in the living room and heard the shot, went back, heard him gurgling, and called police. There were a lot of questions involved, and the state police had to look into different aspects of his background. But based on the statements of Mrs. Williams, based on the firearm being in the decedent's hand, Mr. Williams might have taken his own life. Speaker 3 (3:47) Ronald Lee Williams Jr. was born on December 21, 1969, in rural Pennsylvania. Speaker 4 (3:55) My dad grew up in Osceola Mills, Pennsylvania. He went to Phillipsburg Middle and High School. He was incredibly intelligent. He's too smart for his own good, and he has a very dark sense of humor. But he also found enjoyment in a lot of the little things in life. Speaker 3 (4:17) Following high school graduation, Ron joined the armed forces. From a very young age, my dad was very interested in the military. Soon after returning from basic training, Ron met the love of his life, a local girl named Kimberly Hallman. My mom Speaker 4 (4:37) grew up in the Chester Hill area. She wasn't necessarily a popular kid, but she was a nice kid. My mom got pregnant relatively soon after they met. I want to say just a couple months into it. Speaker 3 (4:52) The couple tied the knot in February 1992. And before long, their family had grown by two with the addition of daughters Angel and Miranda. Speaker 3 (5:06) As their family grew, Speaker 4 (5:07) Ron shifted into a new career. He worked mainly on, like, logging equipment. But he, anything mechanical, he was absolutely obsessed with. He built, like, the craziest Frankenstein cars you would have ever seen. Speaker 4 (5:29) While Speaker 3 (5:29) Ron's military career may have been in the past, it left him with a special interest in firearms. Speaker 2 (5:37) He liked shooting guns. That was probably his favorite pastime, just going out to the range. Speaker 4 (5:43) To take care of guns and put them together and everything like that, I guess, was soothing for him. Speaker 2 (5:49) Ron was a huge Second Amendment guy. He was like an encyclopedia for knowing what guns are out on the market, what gun was used in what war. That was his passion. Speaker 3 (6:04) But nothing was more important to Ron than his Speaker 4 (6:07) family. We were a very close-knit family, and that's how my parents preferred it. We would make it a habit to go out on Sundays to, like, the flea markets and do, like, antique picking and stuff like that. And we would have family dinner on Sundays. Speaker 3 (6:27) By 2013, both of their daughters were adults and had moved out to start lives of their own. After more than two decades together, Ron and Kimberly were enjoying life as empty nesters until they suffered a major setback. Speaker 4 (6:47) He was at a gun show in Lewistown with his dad. And apparently when they were walking back to the car, he just sat down and said he didn't feel good. It was bad enough that they needed to rush him to the hospital. He ended up having multiple strokes that they couldn't diagnose as to why until they ended up doing a CT scan where they found out that he had bleeding in the brain. He was still having active strokes. Speaker 2 (7:16) He was left quadriplegic pretty much after the stroke. So he didn't have any use of both upper and lower extremities. Speaker 5 (7:29) Ron was dependent of a wheelchair. He relied on his wife to get in and out of bed, also to complete his bathing and dressing and cooking. Any functional task, Ron relied on somebody to complete for him. Speaker 4 (7:51) To physically get him from point A to point B, there was a lot of physically lifting, moving, pushing, pulling him, his whole physical body. He would start doing therapy and gain momentum and movement back, and then he would have another stroke and have to start over again. Speaker 4 (8:11) His Speaker 3 (8:12) family was devastated to learn those additional strokes had been caused by an error in Ron's hospital treatment. Speaker 4 (8:20) When someone is showing symptoms of having a stroke, they're supposed to follow a certain protocol. Speaker 6 (8:28) There was a medication that the literature says should have been administered, could have prevented the second stroke, and the second stroke is what rendered him most disabled. So Ron and Kim sued the hospital and the doctors. The Speaker 2 (8:42) hospital settled, and he received $1.4 million in compensation. Speaker 3 (8:54) Ron and Kimberly placed the money in a trust to be used for Ron's ongoing treatment. Speaker 2 (9:00) My first encounter with Ron was in the outpatient clinic when he came there. And I transitioned him into home health. With the trust, now he could get medical care for what he needed, meaning a proper van, proper wheelchair, proper lifts throughout the house. They were able to buy a new house. Speaker 5 (9:23) I originally met Ron by doing home health as an occupational therapist. Ron was a fantastic person, a person that had a lot of interest in getting better and improving his quality of life. Speaker 4 (9:35) We became even closer because of my dad's illness. He needed 24-7 care. No one's going to take better care of him than his own family. Speaker 3 (9:50) Kimberly stayed by Ron's side, overseeing all aspects of his care. Together, the family worked to adjust to their new Speaker 4 (9:59) normal. Every day, my sister would bring her son over, the first grandchild born into the family. And I think my dad was so set on the idea that he wasn't going to make it to see that, that he just became absolutely enamored with that little boy. Speaker 2 (10:19) He still had his moments, of course, but he loved his grandkids.