(WWJ) – A 76-year-old Chicago man has been ordered to trial for the presumed death of his infant daughter in Ann Arborfour decades ago.
Isaiah Williams will stand trial on one count of open murder in connection with the 1982 disappearance of 8-month-old Olisa Williams, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday.
Williams allegedly took the little girl out of her mothers arms during a fight on April 29, 1982 in Ohio. Authorities allege he took the girl to Michigan, where she was last seen alive that summer in Williams’ custody.
Olisa was never found and is presumed dead, according to the AG’s office. No other details surrounding her disappearance were released.
Ann Arbor police asked Nessel’s office to review the case in early 2021. The open-murder charge was brought against Williams in October of that year, and a lengthy extradition process followed.
“The disappearance of Olisa Williams is a tragedy in so many ways, but I am proud of our department’s commitment to seek justice in cold case homicides and deliver difficult charges despite intervening decades,” Nessel said, per a press release.
“I am grateful for the work of multiple law enforcement units over the last several decades that ultimately lead to these charges after forty years, and for the determination of Olisa’s mother who has never given up her pursuit of justice for her daughter,” she said.
Williams is scheduled for a pretrial conference on May 17 in Washtenaw Circuit Court.
Portions of the project to find justice for Olisa were supported in part by a grant from the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice.
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