La’Datra Williams with two of her children.
Contributed by Eddie Williams
A Kansas City woman who had been missing for almost two months was found dead in Mississippi, according to police.
La’Datra Williams, 26, went missing after she traveled to Mississippi to visit her long-term partner, Charles Sims. Her family last heard from her on May 20 when she was thirty minutes from his house.
After eight hours of interviewing, Sims allegedly told deputies they would never find Williams where they were looking and said he would take them to where he buried her. Sims took the sheriff and a deputy sheriff to a wooded area in the southeastern portion of Lawrence County, where the body of a deceased female was found in a shallow grave.
DNA testing is still needed to confirm the body belongs to Williams.
Police entered the woods at 2 p.m., and the body was exhumed at 11:30 p.m. that night, they said. Police said Sims gave them “step-by-step details,” but police did not provide further details about Sims’ confession. He has been in custody since Friday, according to the department’s statement.
La’Datra Williams was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her aunt, Audrey Rogers. Williams and Rogers were extremely close. Contributed by Eddie Williams
Charles Sims
Sims, who is 57 years old, lives in Silver Creek, Mississippi.
Sims and Williams began dating when Williams was 18, according to her father Eddie Williams. Sims would have been 49 at that time. They have four children together. Sims also has kids with multiple other partners, according to Eddie Williams.
La’Datra Williams had told her father she was going to Mississippi to break up with Sims. Her father also said he believed she had been cheating on Sims with other men.
When La’Datra Williams stopped responding to her family, Eddie Williams called the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi to conduct a wellness check at Sims’ house. La’Datra Williams was not found during the wellness check, and Eddie Williams then called Sims.
Eddie Williams said Sims admitted to putting his hands on La’Datra Williams on the call. He also said Sims told him he dropped La’Datra Williams off down the road from his house after the argument. Eddie Williams said he immediately believed Sims had something to do with his daughter’s disappearance.
“I believe that in a fit of jealous rage, he killed my daughter,” Eddie Williams told The Star earlier this month.
The investigation took two months. The lead investigator, Sterling Allen, was promoted to chief of police in a nearby town while the investigation was ongoing. Eddie Williams said Allen did not tell him he was leaving and gave no new contact or updates to him. He said the case was eventually handed off to Lawrence County Sheriff Ryan Everett, who he said has been helpful.
La’Datra Williams’ family has created a GoFundMe to raise funds for her burial and to support her orphaned children. It has raised almost $2,000 of its $13,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.
The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office had not responded to The Star’s request for information at the time of publication.
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 11:11 AM.
