Williams Link Sought In UI Case Double-Murder Suspect Draws Interest Of Police

Detectives investigating the disappearance of a gay man attending the University of Idaho are interested in a former student already under suspicion in the murders of two homosexuals in California.

Double-murder suspect Benjamin Matthew Williams, now in custody in Redding, Calif., attended the University of Idaho at the same time as William “Wil” Hendrick.

Hendrick, 25, has not been seen or heard from since Jan. 10, when he disappeared after attending a back-to-school drinking party at a Moscow apartment.

His unlocked car was found the next day in a parking lot near the Moscow Hotel.

Hendrick disappeared less than a month after Williams called friends in Pullman and Coeur d’Alene, attempting to locate Dan Martin, a mutual friend.

Martin said Friday he doesn’t think Hendrick and Williams knew each other.

Investigators have no proof at this point that Williams, who left Moscow in 1996, was back in the area at the time of Hendrick’s disappearance.

But Williams’ friends in Coeur d’Alene, Moscow and nearby Pullman say they were contacted by him late last year. It’s not known where Williams was when he called.

In one telephone call a few days before Hendrick disappeared, Williams cried and became hysterical when he learned his friend Martin was publicly identifying himself as gay.

Moscow Police Chief Dan Weaver confirmed Friday that his detectives investigating Hendrick’s disappearance have contacted Shasta County, Calif., investigators regarding a possible Williams connection.

“At this point, there’s absolutely no link that we can find,” Weaver said, “but it’s something we’re going to continue checking out.” Hendrick’s father, retired law enforcement officer Keith Hendrick of Lewiston, said he had been wondering about Williams as well.

“My question was if he might have been in the area when Wil disappeared,” Hendrick said Friday.

The FBI and Shasta County detectives likely are putting together a timeline, attempting to determine the whereabouts of Williams and his brother, Tyler, earlier this year.

Investigators will attempt to determine whether either of the suspects traveled to the Northwest or were here when Hendrick disappeared.

Murder charges against the Williams brothers are expected to be filed soon in Shasta County, where investigators still were waiting Friday for laboratory results.

Authorities have charged Matt Williams, 31, and Tyler Williams, 29, with possession of a stolen credit card. The card belonged to one of two gay men found shot to death on July 1 in Happy Valley, near Redding.

Friends say Matt Williams was deeply involved in a white supremacy religion known as Christian Identity that denounces homosexuality and Judaism.

One Christian Identity minister whom Williams admired circulates literature advocating the killing of homosexuals.

The Williams brothers also are under investigation by the FBI as possible suspects in the June 18 firebombing of three synagogues in Sacramento.

On that same date in 1984, another group of Christian Identity extremists from the Northwest, The Order, assassinated a Jewish talk show host in Denver.

Hendrick and Williams attended the University of Idaho at the same time, during 1995-1996.

Both were friends with Martin, although at different times.

Hendrick attended UI starting in fall 1995 and got to know Martin only after Martin came out as openly gay the following August. That was a few months after Williams had left the Palouse.

Martin, 25, now works for Stonewall Health Project, an HIV-awareness group for gay men on the Palouse. From last September until Hendrick disappeared in January, the group held meetings at the house where Hendrick lived with his partner, Jerry Schutz.

Schutz said he’s certain neither he nor Hendrick ever met Matt Williams.

“I was trying to figure out if there was connection,” Schutz said Friday. “Unless Matt was actually in Moscow (in January), it’s really hard to say.”

Williams did try to contact Martin around Christmas through mutual friends, but never was able to get his phone number.

Even so, Martin doesn’t believe the cases are linked.

“I think there’s no connection there whatsoever,” he said. “A late-night party wouldn’t be Matthew’s style.”

Martin and Williams met in 1994 after being placed in the same support group while both attended Living Faith Fellowship, a large evangelical Christian church in Pullman.

Martin and Williams became best friends, exchanging poems and going on weekend trips.

During a backpacking trip, the two went skinny-dipping in Estell Lake east of Sandpoint.

During that same trip, the pair climbed Moose Mountain. At the top, Martin said, they celebrated by stripping off their clothes and yelling.

They sat there naked for an hour, joking about what Living Faith leaders would say if they could see them, Martin recalled.