The man Oakland County detectives say killed 32-year-old Pontiac mother Kaneisha Williams has been found dead in Alabama, a development investigators say slams the door on a four-year-old homicide probe. Authorities report the suspect died by suicide and that forensic testing tied the weapon used in his death to the gun that killed Williams.
What happened in Pontiac
On Jan. 22, 2020, neighbors on a residential Pontiac street saw a terrifying scene unfold. A woman later identified as Williams was seen running from a man before gunshots rang out, Oakland County deputies told WXYZ. When deputies arrived, they found the 32-year-old outside a home, critically wounded.
With no time to spare, deputies put Williams into a patrol car and rushed her to a local hospital. She later died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to investigators. In the days that followed, her family launched a GoFundMe campaign to help support her three children and organized a vigil that drew mourners from across the community.
Suspect traced to Alabama
Detectives eventually identified 29-year-old Reuben Tompkins as a suspect and began tracking his movements across state lines. According to investigators, the trail led to Mountain Brook, Alabama, where Tompkins was found dead from what officers described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Ballistics testing later linked the firearm recovered with Tompkins to the gun used to kill Williams, effectively tying him to the Pontiac homicide and prompting Oakland County to classify the investigation as closed, according to ClickOnDetroit. For detectives, the case file may be finished, even if the ending is anything but tidy.
Family reaction
Williams’s family has spoken openly about the grief that has not eased with time, even as the official case status changed.
Her mother, recalling both birth and death in the same breath, told reporters she “watched her take her first breath and I watched her take her last breath,” according to coverage by FOX 2 Detroit. The family says its focus now is on raising Williams’s children and trying to give them some sense of stability after an act of violence that upended their lives.
Investigation status
Oakland County investigators say the ballistic match to Tompkins’s gun, combined with his death in Alabama, left them with no suspect to bring into court and no grounds to pursue criminal charges. As a result, the county considers the homicide probe closed, according to ClickOnDetroit. On paper, that counts as resolution. For the people who loved Williams, it feels a lot more like an open wound.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office continues to list nonemergency dispatch contacts and tip resources on its website for anyone with information about other unsolved cases.
Why this resurfaced
The case returned to public view this week after a republished feature by Our Black Girls ran today, the outlet noting that an earlier version of the story first appeared in 2020. The renewed attention has once again highlighted Williams’s story and the family she left behind.
For her relatives, the official closure of the investigation has never meant closure on the loss. They are still raising her children, still telling them about the mother they lost, and still living with the ripple effects of a killing that, for them, never really faded from view.
