Julian Williams Missing: Luring, Arrests, and Life Sentence

Julian Williams, a 23-year-old from Augusta, went missing early on March 26, 2017, after he was lured from his Broad Street apartment to Beech Island, South Carolina, by a man using a phone-spoofing application to impersonate a woman Williams had been dating. His remains were found a month later behind an abandoned trailer on Spider Web Road. Antonio Deaunte Simpkins was convicted of his murder in April 2019 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.¹

The Night He Disappeared

Williams was last seen around 2:00 a.m. on March 26, 2017, getting into a cab outside his apartment on the 700 block of Broad Street in Augusta.² He thought he was going to meet a woman he had been dating. The texts arranging the meeting did not come from her. They came from a man using a spoofing app to generate a fake number and pose as her.¹

Williams’ family reported him missing on April 2, 2017, about a week after he vanished.¹ His father, Markeith Williams, said Julian had been texting someone he believed was the woman he was dating, but was actually communicating with a man who drew him out of his apartment and into a cab headed to Beech Island.³

How His Remains Were Found

On April 26, 2017, acting on tips developed during the investigation, authorities located human remains in a shallow grave behind an abandoned trailer at 211 Spider Web Road in Beech Island.⁴¹

Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton made a presumptive identification at the scene, with confirmation to follow through dental records from a Maryland dentist.⁵ The autopsy the next day found Williams had died from severe head trauma caused by gunshot wounds, and Carlton ruled the death a homicide.⁴ Prosecutors later established at trial that Williams had been shot three times.¹

Who Was Charged

On the day the remains were found, authorities arrested two Beech Island residents: Antonio Deaunte Simpkins, then 24, and Steven Ray Jackson, then 26.²

Simpkins was initially charged with kidnapping, and his charges were upgraded to murder after the autopsy.⁴ Arrest warrants alleged he used a spoofing application to impersonate a woman and lure Williams to Spider Web Road, where Simpkins was waiting with a gun. Investigators identified the motive as a love triangle: Simpkins and Williams had been dating the same woman.¹

Jackson was charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and misprision of a felony, which is failing to report a crime to police.⁶ Warrants alleged Jackson helped lure Williams to Beech Island and then lied to investigators about what he knew.²

The Trial and Sentence

Simpkins’ murder trial took place in Aiken County over three days, from April 2 to April 4, 2019, with Assistant Solicitor Cassie Hall of the Second Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office prosecuting. At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Simpkins used a phone-spoofing application to generate a fake number, impersonated a woman to arrange the meeting on Spider Web Road, and shot Williams when he arrived.¹

On April 4, 2019, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Simpkins to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and he was transferred to the South Carolina Department of Corrections on April 8, 2019.¹

Simpkins later filed an appeal with the South Carolina Court of Appeals, docketed as Case No. 2019-000656. It appeared on the court’s October 2021 roster of cases to be submitted without oral argument.⁷ The available records do not indicate the outcome.

Where the Co-Defendant’s Case Stands

Jackson’s case followed a different track. He faced charges of kidnapping and neglect in reporting a crime, also described in some records as conspiracy to commit kidnapping and misprision of a felony. A judge initially denied bond for both men, but Jackson was released from the Aiken County Detention Center on a $125,000 bond on January 22, 2018. As of April 2019, his next court appearance had not been scheduled, and no further information about a plea, trial, or disposition of Jackson’s charges is available in the public reporting on the case.¹

Who Julian Williams Was

Julian Williams was a graduate of Laney High School in Augusta. He had survived a life-threatening injury in 2011, when he was shot in the heart; his father, Markeith Williams, recalled doctors giving him a 20 percent chance of survival at the time.³

Speaking to reporters after the arrests, Markeith Williams said, “We are glad they brought my boy home. It’s been over a month now, he’s been missing and we are just glad that we can have some closure and bring him home.” He described his son as widely loved: “It shows the kind of person Julian was. Everybody loved him. He’s just a wasted life.”³

1
Post and Courier. Beech Island Man Gets Life Sentence Following Guilty Verdict in Murder of Augusta Man
2
WRDW. Richmond County Deputies Looking for Man Who Was Last Seen Waiting for a Cab
3
WJBF. Augusta Father Says Son Was Lured to His Kidnapping, Murder
4
Augusta Chronicle. Aiken County Man Has Charges Upgraded to Murder
5
Post and Courier. Body of Missing Augusta Man Found, Two Beech Island Men Charged
6
Post and Courier. Aiken Coroner Rules Missing Augusta Man’s Death a Homicide
7
South Carolina Judicial Branch. Court of Appeals Roster of Cases