A North Carolina family is demanding answers after a 25-year-old woman was found dead in the woods.
Heather Williams was last seen on Ring doorbell footage leaving her Fayetteville home and getting into a light-colored sedan with a sunroof on Jan. 4 just before 10 p.m. according to the Fayetteville Observer.
Her sister, Mary Williams, told WRAL the family did not know the person driving the vehicle – and suspected it was someone Heather met online.
A statewide missing and endangered persons alert was issued on January 7, with authorities noting that Heather was cognitively impaired and had limited speech after being hit by a car in 2015. CBS 17 reports.
The accident also left her with limited use of her right arm and right leg, causing her to limp, the family said.
Heather’s body was eventually found in a wooded area of the city on Friday, leaving the family stunned.
“I just ask people out there, if they hear something or see something, you know, someone knows something, someone talked to someone, someone has, you know, they make a mistake along the way,” Mary told WRAL.
“So someone must know something.”
Fayetteville police found the remains of Heather Williams on Friday
Her sister, Mary Williams, said she and her family hoped Heather would still come home after she disappeared on January 4.
“And you know, I just pray that whoever knows something comes forward and that we can get justice for Heather.”
Fayetteville police are now investigating Heather’s death as a homicide.
Officers located the suspect vehicle on Friday, the same day Heather’s body was found, and Williams police said police identified a person of interest in the case.
But no arrests had been made as of Monday.
“What happened to Heather is horrible and I wouldn’t want it to happen to anyone else, and now that person is still out there and still capable of harming other people, it’s horrifying to think about.” Mary says. told CBS 17.
She noted that Heather was already in “a dangerous situation” and suddenly left in the middle of the night, which she said she found “creepy.”
Still, the family held out hope that Mary would return home safely in the days before her body was found.
Mary said her family is just trying to focus on better times ahead.
Heather was last seen leaving her home on January 4 at 10pm
She approached a sedan, the driver of which the family said they did not know
She said she hopes the public will remember her sister “as someone who, you know, persevered and someone who was always smiling and could make people laugh and didn’t care what anyone thought of her.”
In a Facebook post announcing Heather’s death, she added: “Our family finds comfort in the love Heather had for God and through all her trials and tribulations she never lost her faith, and I know we won’t lose ours either.
“I thank God for the years we had with her,” Mary said.