Diamond King was six years old when her father, Michael Williams, was shot and killed inside his west Charlotte home in May 2002. Now 30 and living in Gastonia, she's still asking the public for help solving his killing — a case that remains open with no one ever charged.
Williams was 30 years old at the time of his death, shot near Sampson Street and Rozzelles Ferry Road, according to WBTV. An obituary published after his death lists him as Michael Duane Williams of 4531 Sampson Street in Charlotte, and says he died on June 15, 2002, at Carolinas Medical Center, Main, according to a notice on legacy.com. That same obituary identifies his daughter as Diamond A. Ledbetter, a name that does not match the Diamond King identified in the station's report; the discrepancy between the two names has not been explained in available records.
King told the station she believes someone close to her father may know what happened, and she's hoping that person finally speaks up after nearly 25 years of silence. “(I have a) quite clear idea of who done this,” she said, per the station's report. She said she's asking the person with information to come forward regardless of whether the shooting was intentional or an accident.
A Daughter Who Grew Up Without Answers
King was just six when her father died, and the case has stayed unresolved through her entire adulthood. She is now married with three sons, the station's report notes, and says the unanswered questions about her father's death have followed her all this time.
No arrests have ever been made in the case, and the circumstances surrounding the shooting — including a motive or the specifics of what happened that night — remain unknown in the public record. King's appeal centers on getting someone who has stayed quiet to finally talk, whether to her directly or to investigators.
How To Submit A Tip
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600. Callers can remain anonymous by not giving their name, and may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $5,000 if their information leads to an arrest, per the same account.
Cases like Williams's are not unique to Charlotte. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has said it carries roughly 600 open homicide cases dating back through the early 1960s, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. In one example from February 2025, the department's Cold Case Unit said it had identified a deceased offender in a homicide investigation that had gone unsolved for 40 years, according to the department. Elsewhere in North Carolina, the governor has offered $25,000 rewards for information leading to arrests and convictions in other unsolved homicide cases, as reported by WCCB Charlotte.
For now, King's hope rests on whoever has held onto information about her father's death for almost a quarter-century. She wants them to understand that the truth, whatever it is, matters more to her now than placing blame.
