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Who Is Steven Williams & Where Is He Now? 2026 Update & Profile

Ryan Gill

Steven Williams was a U.S. Air Force serviceman, husband and father whose name became tied to one of Martin County, Florida’s most disturbing murder cases after his former wife, Tricia Todd, disappeared in April 2016.

At first, Williams did not admit that he had killed her. As investigators searched Hobe Sound and examined people connected with Tricia’s final days, he presented versions of events that concealed the planning behind the crime.

Nearly a month after Tricia vanished, Williams confessed to causing her death. Even then, he did not tell investigators the full truth.

He first claimed that Tricia had died after an argument in which he pushed her and she fell. He said he panicked, disposed of her body and could not remember where he had left it.

The account was false.

After accepting a plea agreement and leading investigators to Tricia’s remains, Williams later gave detectives a far more detailed account. He said he had planned the murder, lured Tricia to an Airbnb by claiming their 2-year-old daughter was sick, attacked her, killed her while their child slept nearby and transported her body to a burial site he had prepared in advance.

Williams was sentenced to 35 years in prison for second-degree murder, with a concurrent five-year sentence for child neglect. As of 2026, he remains incarcerated in the Florida prison system.

Steven Williams and Tricia Todd Had Known Each Other Since School

Williams and Tricia had known one another for years before they married.

Both entered the U.S. Air Force, creating another connection between them as their relationship developed.

They eventually married and had a daughter.

The marriage did not last.

By 2015, the couple had separated. Tricia returned to Hobe Sound, Florida, with their daughter while Williams remained connected to the military and was stationed in North Carolina.

Their divorce was completed in 2016.

The end of the marriage did not end their contact.

They still shared responsibility for their young daughter.

That relationship gave Williams a reason to remain in communication with Tricia and, investigators later learned, gave him the means to bring her to the location where he intended to kill her.

Williams Was Serving in the Air Force

Williams’ military career became significant once Tricia disappeared.

His status meant investigators from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations worked alongside the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

The investigation involved personnel from several Air Force OSI units.

Williams’ movements between Florida and North Carolina also became relevant as detectives reconstructed the preparation for the murder.

Evidence later showed that some of the supplies used in the disposal plan had been obtained outside Florida.

One of the most important pieces of surveillance evidence showed Williams purchasing acid from a Home Depot in North Carolina months before Tricia was killed.

That purchase would undermine his first claim that her death had been accidental.

The Divorce Left Conflict Over Their Daughter

Williams and Tricia remained connected because of their 2-year-old daughter.

After his conviction, Williams told investigators that custody and child support were among his motives for killing his former wife.

He said he wanted full custody of the child.

He also said he did not want to continue paying child support.

Another grievance concerned the way he believed Tricia treated him during Skype calls involving their daughter.

Those reasons, as described by Williams himself, showed investigators that the murder grew out of resentment surrounding the breakdown of the relationship and his desire for greater control over what happened afterward.

The child would also become part of the method Williams used to lure Tricia into danger.

Williams Planned the Murder Before Tricia Disappeared

Williams did not reveal the planning when he first confessed.

The evidence and his later statements showed that the murder had been prepared in advance.

He had selected a remote disposal location in the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area.

A hole had been prepared there.

A container was ready.

Acid had been obtained.

Williams later admitted that he had intended to kill Tricia before the night she died.

He told detectives that he spent time with her during the day but could not bring himself to carry out the plan.

He later decided to use their daughter to bring Tricia to him.

Williams Sent Tricia a Message Saying Their Daughter Was Sick

Williams was staying at an Airbnb with the couple’s 2-year-old daughter.

He contacted Tricia and told her the child was sick.

For a mother, the message created an immediate reason to come.

Tricia went to the Airbnb.

According to Williams’ later account, that was what he had intended.

The story about their daughter was a lure.

Tricia entered the property believing she was responding to a concern about her child.

Instead, Williams had arranged the circumstances for an attack.

Their daughter was asleep in another room.

Williams First Tried to Strangle Tricia

Williams later told detectives that he attacked Tricia after she arrived.

He began by strangling her.

Tricia lost consciousness.

Williams then stopped before killing her because there was information he wanted from her.

He wanted passwords, including access to her email account.

That detail showed that Williams’ plan included more than killing his former wife.

He also wanted the ability to manipulate what people believed had happened to her.

His intention was to make the disappearance appear voluntary.

He Planned to Use Tricia’s Haiti Mission Work as a Cover Story

Tricia had taken part in medical mission trips to Haiti.

Williams knew that.

He later said he intended to use her email account to send messages suggesting she had left for Haiti on another mission.

The cover story drew on something genuine from Tricia’s life.

Because friends and relatives knew she had travelled there for medical work, an apparent message saying she had gone to Haiti might have appeared plausible.

Williams therefore wanted access to her private accounts so he could create false evidence after her death.

The plan demonstrates the extent to which the killing and cover-up had been considered before the murder was complete.

Tricia Regained Consciousness

Williams said Tricia regained consciousness after the first strangulation attempt.

She screamed.

According to his account, he then struck her in the head with a club.

He said he continued the attack until she became quiet.

Williams then strangled her to death.

Their young daughter remained asleep nearby.

The circumstances resulted in a separate child-neglect charge because the child was present in the location while her father killed her mother.

The murder left the 2-year-old without her mother and ultimately without her father as a free person.

Williams Transported Tricia’s Body to Hungryland

After killing Tricia, Williams moved her body.

He transported her to the remote Hungryland preserve.

This was not a location selected during a panic after the killing.

According to his later confession, Williams had already prepared the site.

The remote landscape provided privacy and distance from the places associated with Tricia’s everyday life.

Williams took the body to the prepared hole and container.

There he carried out one of the most disturbing stages of the crime.

Williams Dismembered Tricia’s Body

Williams later told detectives that he used a chainsaw to dismember Tricia.

The remains were placed into a container filled with acid.

He then buried the container.

Investigators later found saws and teeth around the recovery site.

The method was intended to destroy and conceal evidence.

For weeks, Tricia’s family searched for her while her remains were hidden in the wildlife area.

Williams knew where she was.

He did not tell investigators.

Williams Returned Tricia’s Car

The cover-up continued after the body was hidden.

Williams returned Tricia’s vehicle to her residence.

Surveillance footage later became important in proving that he had been there.

Detectives confronted Williams with evidence showing him leaving the area after returning the car.

That surveillance footage weakened his efforts to present himself as someone with limited knowledge of Tricia’s disappearance.

It also became part of the pressure investigators used when they challenged his claim that he could not remember where he had placed her body.

Investigators Initially Had No Body

Tricia’s failure to collect her daughter from a babysitter set off the missing-person investigation.

Search teams combed Hobe Sound and surrounding areas.

Investigators examined multiple leads, including people Tricia had encountered before her disappearance.

Williams remained one of the central people of interest because of his relationship with her and the timing of their contact.

But without Tricia’s body, the case was harder to prove.

Williams understood the importance of that fact.

His knowledge of the burial site became bargaining power once he decided to confess.

Williams Initially Lied About How Tricia Died

When Williams first admitted causing Tricia’s death, he did not describe a planned murder.

He told investigators there had been an argument.

He said he pushed Tricia.

He claimed she fell and appeared to be dead.

According to this version, Williams panicked and disposed of her body.

The account portrayed the killing as an impulsive event followed by fear.

It concealed the prepared burial site, the acid, the attempt to obtain passwords and the use of their daughter as a lure.

Detectives did not believe they had heard the complete truth.

He Claimed He Could Not Remember the Burial Location

Investigators drove Williams through Hungryland in an attempt to locate Tricia.

He repeatedly said he did not know where the site was.

The explanation strained credibility.

Williams had transported a body into a remote area, prepared a disposal site and buried remains there.

Detectives challenged him about how he could forget such a place.

He continued resisting.

Then investigators confronted him with evidence they had obtained about his movements.

Pressure grew.

Eventually, Williams made a deal.

Williams Used the Location of Tricia’s Body as Part of a Plea Deal

Williams agreed to tell authorities where Tricia was in exchange for a fixed sentence.

He would plead no contest to second-degree murder.

He would receive 35 years in prison.

In exchange, he would lead investigators to Tricia’s remains.

The deal also spared Williams from facing the possibility of a death sentence.

For prosecutors, the choice was difficult.

They could continue pursuing the strongest possible case without knowing whether Tricia would ever be recovered.

Or they could accept a lesser sentence and give her family the chance to bring her home.

They chose recovery.

Williams Walked Investigators to the Burial Site

After reaching the agreement, Williams took investigators into Hungryland.

Video showed him walking through the area in an orange jail uniform.

Unlike his earlier claims that he could not remember the location, he was able to lead investigators to the site.

He marked the ground.

Authorities excavated the area.

They found the buried container.

Inside were acid and portions of Tricia’s remains.

The discovery confirmed what Williams had done and ended the family’s search for her.

Investigators Recovered Saws and Teeth

The Hungryland search produced more than the buried container.

Authorities recovered several teeth and saws from nearby locations.

The evidence supported the conclusion that the body had been dismembered.

Because the remains had spent an extended period in acid, investigators faced questions about whether everything that could be recovered had been found.

A laboratory later examined the expected effects of the acid.

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said investigators believed what was recovered represented all of Tricia’s remains that would have survived the process.

The family now knew where she had been taken.

Williams Revealed the Full Story After His Conviction

One of the most troubling aspects of the case came after the plea agreement had already been made.

Detectives interviewed Williams in prison.

He gave them the fuller account of the murder.

The story now included planning.

It included the false message about their sick daughter.

It included the strangulation attempt.

It included the demand for passwords.

It included the planned fake Haiti emails.

It included the club.

It included the prepared Hungryland site and acid.

That account was far more serious than the version Williams had provided while negotiating his plea.

The Later Confession Made the Plea Deal More Controversial

By the time investigators learned the full extent of the planning, Williams already had his deal.

That created frustration.

A planned killing supported by evidence of preparation could have justified a more severe prosecution.

But prosecutors had traded away that possibility to recover Tricia’s remains.

Judge Lawrence Mirman later acknowledged that the resulting sentence was less than full justice.

He also recognised why the bargain had been made.

Without the agreement, the true nature of the crime might never have been known and Tricia might never have been recovered.

The case became an example of the compromises prosecutors sometimes face when a killer conceals a victim’s body.

Williams Was Evaluated for Competency

Before sentencing, Williams’ defense requested a mental-health evaluation.

He had been placed on suicide watch while in jail.

His lawyers said they believed he had been competent when he entered the plea but wanted to make sure he remained competent to proceed with sentencing.

The evaluation found him competent.

The sentencing moved forward.

The mental-health issue therefore did not invalidate the plea or prevent the court from imposing the negotiated punishment.

Steven Williams Was Sentenced in October 2016

On October 7, 2016, Judge Lawrence Mirman sentenced Williams to 35 years in prison for second-degree murder.

He also received five years for child neglect.

That term runs concurrently with the murder sentence.

Williams therefore did not receive an additional five years beyond the 35-year term.

There was no full murder trial.

His no-contest plea resolved the case before prosecutors presented the complete evidence to a jury.

There Was No Jury Verdict on First-Degree Murder

Williams never stood trial for a premeditated first-degree murder charge based on the full account he later gave detectives.

A jury never decided whether the state had proved premeditation.

No jury considered the death penalty.

The legal outcome was the result of negotiation.

That distinction matters because the facts revealed later might have supported a different prosecution had authorities known them before the plea agreement.

Williams’ cooperation in finding Tricia effectively shaped the limits of his punishment.

Tricia’s Father Said He Forgave Williams

At sentencing, Tricia’s father, David Todd, addressed the courtroom.

He said he had forgiven Williams.

He also said he prayed for him.

David said he believed his daughter was already in a place of peace and did not need further prayers.

His words did not alter Williams’ responsibility.

They represented one family member’s response to a crime that could not be undone.

Other people involved in the case expressed dissatisfaction with the punishment while accepting that the plea had allowed investigators to recover Tricia.

The Air Force Also Investigated Williams

Because Williams was a military serviceman, the Air Force remained involved after the civilian murder case.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations participated in the original investigation with Martin County authorities.

Reporting after Williams’ prison confession also indicated that military investigators were examining his conduct.

The civilian case, however, produced the prison sentence that defines his current status.

He was convicted in Florida state court of second-degree murder and child neglect.

That sentence remains the core legal outcome of the case.

Where Is Steven Williams Now?

Steven Williams remains in prison in Florida.

Current public reporting based on Florida Department of Corrections information places him at Jefferson Correctional Institution, a state prison in Jefferson County, Florida.

He is serving the 35-year sentence imposed in 2016 for Tricia Todd’s murder.

Williams was transferred from the Martin County Jail after sentencing and first passed through the Central Florida Reception Center, where state inmates are processed before assignment to a permanent facility.

He remains incarcerated as of 2026.

Williams Once Required Protective Custody

Williams’ early period in custody also drew attention.

While he was held in the Martin County jail, authorities placed him in protective custody after a threatening social-media comment was identified following his booking.

Records reported at the time showed Williams was housed in a medical area and placed under close observation.

Deputies monitored him at short intervals.

The security measures reflected both threats against him and concerns surrounding his condition while in custody.

He was also placed on suicide watch during the period before sentencing.

Those jail conditions were temporary before he entered the state prison system.

His Sentence Means He Could Spend Decades in Prison

Williams received a fixed 35-year sentence rather than life without parole.

That means his case differs from one in which a defendant can never be released.

The precise date on which a Florida prisoner may complete a sentence can depend on credit, statutory rules and Department of Corrections calculations.

What is clear is that Williams remains incarcerated in 2026, roughly a decade after the murder.

He has not served the full sentence imposed by the court.

Any future release would depend on the lawful calculation of that sentence by Florida correctional authorities.

Steven Williams Went From Military Serviceman to Convicted Murderer

Before the case, Williams had served in the U.S. Air Force, married Tricia and become the father of a young daughter.

By the end of 2016, he was a convicted murderer serving a 35-year state-prison sentence.

The transition was the result of choices Williams later described in detail.

He planned to kill his former wife.

He obtained materials.

He prepared a burial site.

He used their daughter to bring Tricia to him.

He killed her.

He tried to create a false story about her disappearance.

He dismembered and concealed her remains.

Then he lied about how it happened.

What Happened to Steven Williams?

Steven Williams was arrested after confessing to involvement in Tricia Todd’s death.

He entered a negotiated no-contest plea to second-degree murder.

In return for a 35-year sentence, he led investigators to the remains he had buried in Hungryland.

He was sentenced in October 2016.

He later told detectives that his initial account of the killing had been false and that the murder had been planned.

His later confession did not undo the plea agreement.

The sentence remained 35 years.

As of 2026, Williams is still incarcerated in Florida, with current reporting placing him at Jefferson Correctional Institution.

The deal that sent him there remains one of the most difficult elements of the Tricia Todd case.

Without it, Williams might have faced a harsher prosecution.

Because of it, Tricia’s family was able to recover her remains and learn what happened to her.

Steven Williams is now serving the sentence that resulted from that bargain.

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