[VA] They are coming for ex-Officer Williams in disappearance of Rachel Good

...In August 2004, a source close to the investigation confirmed that Williams, who is no longer an Elkton police officer, is that suspect... Though the prosecutor would not name the suspect, she said that Good’s killer would face justice. “He is not forgotten,” she said. “We are coming for him”... Williams was the first officer on the case... he investigated the disappearance for four days...

‘We Are Coming For Him’
For Garst, Family, Pursuit Still Active In Rachel Good Disappearance Case
The Daily News Record
By David Reynolds
2007-10-18

When Brenda Brown reported her daughter’s disappearance to the Elkton Police Department in 2003, she says the officer who took her statement couldn’t stop shaking. “I have never seen anyone shake like that,” Brown said. “He could barely hold his ink pen in his hand, and he only wrote a couple of lines.” After the interview, Brown remembers, the young Elkton officer, Adam Williams, offered to help however he could, and told Brown that if she needed anything, she should call him. He would take care of it.

When she looks back on it four years later, Brown says that she felt right away that something was wrong. But in October 2003, Brown didn’t know that she’d likely seen her daughter, Rachel Good, for the last time. She didn’t know that 10 months later, authorities would confirm that Good’s disappearance was being investigated as a homicide. Or, that investigators would later tell her that the officer initially assigned to the case had become a suspect.

In August 2004, a source close to the investigation confirmed that Williams, who is no longer an Elkton police officer, is that suspect. On Wednesday, the eve of the fourth anniversary of Good’s disappearance, Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha Garst held a news conference on Court Square in Harrisonburg and pledged that the case has not been forgotten. Good’s disappearance devastated a family and a community, Garst said, and left three children without a mother.

Though the prosecutor would not name the suspect, she said that Good’s killer would face justice. “He is not forgotten,” she said. “We are coming for him.”

The Case

Four years ago today, Good, a 20-year-old pregnant mother, was last seen hanging out with friends outside the Elkton Volunteer Fire Department. Although police say they believe she was killed, her body has never been found. Virginia State Police took over the investigation at the request of the Elkton Police Department 10 days after the disappearance, authorities have said. By late summer 2004, authorities announced that they considered Good’s disappearance a homicide. And in September 2004, a special grand jury was convened to review evidence collected in the investigation. Also in 2004, former Elkton Police Chief Richard Pullen said that Williams was the first officer on the case and that he investigated the disappearance for four days, according to published reports.

Investigation Update

During Wednesday’s news conference, Garst said her office and state police are working hard on Good’s case and that they are still receiving new information. Some new leads are from people who weren’t interviewed during the initial investigation, Garst said. Police also have used telephone records to track calls that Good made or received shortly before her disappearance, she said. Senior Special Agent Joe Ritchie, of the state police’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations, also said he was certain the case was homicide. Citing the ongoing investigation, Garst gave few specific details, but said that the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office have assisted in the investigation. She also said that despite rumors, Good’s body has not recently been recovered. Although she wouldn’t name the suspect, Garst said that the “person of interest” has not changed in recent years.

The suspect lives in another state, but on occasion has returned to Rockingham County, Garst said. She also said that police know where he is and keep him under surveillance. Though Brown regrets the way her daughter’s case was initially handled four years ago, she says that the way Garst and state police are handling it now is comforting. “I know they’re sticking with it,” Brown said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re doing every single thing that they possibly can.”

Contact David Reynolds at 574-6278 or reynolds@dnronline.com