New York State Police Still Working on 35-Year-Old Broome County Homicide

New York State Police say they are still looking for a Johnson City resident’s killer, 35 years after her death.

NY State Police Nathan R Riegal provided photo

On the evening of November 4, 1983, 19-year-old Bessie Williams reportedly didn’t return to her Main Street apartment after being last seen picking up her paycheck from the Quality Inn Lodge in Endwell that afternoon.

The young woman’s remains were found in a wooded area off King Street, Castle Creek in the Town of Barker in April 1985.

After the discovery of Williams’ remains, authorities have been trying to identify a suspect whose vehicle was towed by some citizens from a field bordering the wooded area where the teen was found. The vehicle had been removed from the field shortly after the woman disappeared but about a year and a half before her remains were found.

In 1985, authorities said they were looking for a white man between 25 and 30 years old who had been in an intoxicated state.  He was said to stand between five-feet, seven-inches and five-feet, ten inches tall, of medium build with a noticeable pot belly.  He had been driving a late 1970s white hatchback, that may have been a Ford, with a reddish-brown interior, stick shift and had New York license plates.

State Police have re-released the information on the cold case and say they are still investigating.