Kriti Mehrotra
It was late in the evening of September 5, 2018, when everything turned upside down for a family in Oklahoma as two hardworking brothers were heinously killed for seemingly no rhyme or reason. As explored in A&E’s ‘After the First 48: Brothers Down,’ 61-year-old Keith Dwayne Williams and 53-year-old Glynn Edward Williams had left home for some work on the fateful night, never to return. It took investigators a while to bring this matter to a satisfactory close owing to a lack of direct evidence, but they did their best to move quickly once they were sure they had the right suspect.
Keith and Glynn Williams Were Fatally Shot in a Parking Lot
Keith Dwayne Williams was born on December 4, 1956, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Tharris Joan Burgess and Issac Williams, but he primarily grew up in a blended household in Oklahoma City. His parents had reportedly separated when he was quite young, so his core family also comprised a stepmother as well as seven siblings, all of whom were always near and dear to his heart. According to their accounts, he had an incredibly kind soul as he never hesitated to help anyone, was a man of deep, positive faith, and had such a boisterous laugh that he lightened every room.
Keith returned to his home state later in life, but he ultimately settled in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 2002, alongside his wife, Mary-jo Hahn (whom he married in 1984), and the three children he treated as his own. According to the records, he only referred to them as “their” children, despite them being biologically Mary-jo’s, and was unwaveringly dedicated to loving and providing for them, regardless of the circumstances. He thus established a commercial night-running deep janitorial business called Keith Williams Cleaners in Tulsa, which was thriving by the time 2018 rolled around, driving him to bring in a partner of sorts.
According to reports, Keith’s younger brother, Glynn Edwards Williams (born March 24, 1965), was looking to start afresh around the same time, so they decided it would be best if he joined the company. He hence moved to Oklahoma alongside his wife of 23 years, Cecily Shanti Williams, and the youngest of their 12 kids, unaware that everything would turn upside down on September 5, 2018. The brothers had left home that fateful evening to check on an employee cleaning a dialysis center, where nine gunshots soon rang out – the duo was shot in the parking lot of the establishment.
The Killer Was Identified Through the Weapon
When officers arrived at the scene upon being called by the same female employee the brothers had wanted to check in on, they found Keith’s bloody remains right near an open door of his vehicle, indicating he was killed as he was stepping out. On the other hand, based on the bloody footprints going away from the 61-year-old, the shell casings along the way, and 53-year-old Glynn’s remains near the pavement, it seemed as if he was killed as he was rushing towards the medical institution to call for help. The employee had reportedly never heard the gunshots; she only became aware of the situation when she saw a bloody Glynn banging on the windows.
During her formal interview a couple of hours later, the woman shared she had texted the brothers at around 10:30 pm about a suspicious car outside the center, which is why they had come over in the first place. She never saw who was inside the vehicle or its brand, but could tell it was a compact SUV “like an Equinox” and indicated it had no business being there that late – it was just sitting idle in the parking lot. Initially, suspicion fell on her because the victims’ wives told detectives her sons had recently been fired for being no-shows at various jobs, but it led nowhere, as there was no evidence against her, and her sons had alibis.
Officials subsequently worked various angles, but owing to the brothers having no enemies and a lack of any concrete evidence, it was around 20 days later that they got their big breakthrough. The bullets from the scene allegedly matched those from a different shooting that had occurred mere days after the double homicide – it was at an Incredible Pizza. Fortunately, no one was fatally wounded. The suspect in the latter incident had already been identified as Ondriel Smith, who also had a warrant against him for another unrelated alleged attempted shooting from April 2018. The weapon used here was reportedly the same once again.
Ondriel Smith is Currently Serving a Life Term Behind Bars
When investigators attempted to locate 35-year-old Ondriel, they discovered that he had already been booked into the Tulsa County Jail after patrolmen had arrested him a few days prior based on a tip. It was seemingly connected to the alleged restaurant shooting, but it proved significant even in the double homicide case because he was stopped while driving a maroon Chevrolet Equinox. Moreover, he had a small-caliber pistol as well as the murder weapon on him, which he claimed belonged to his girlfriend – she had been arrested right alongside him but had bonded out not long after.
In the bodycam footage of the couple’s arrest, officials noticed signs of domestic abuse on the woman and decided it would be best if they talked privately with her first before interviewing Ondriel. She agreed to speak in the comfort of her home, reportedly asserting that her boyfriend was indeed responsible for Keith and Glynn’s murders, adding that he didn’t have a motive; he was just trigger-happy. According to the girlfriend’s statements, he had allegedly been claiming he wanted to shoot people for months and that he was also behind the reported April 2018 as well as the alleged Incredible Pizza incidents.
She was then asked why she hadn’t come forward with all this information before, especially if she didn’t have a hand in any of the incidents despite the weapon being under her name. She responded that she was scared of Ondriel not only because he had reportedly deliberately ensured she was the weapon’s legal owner but also because he was very abusive towards her. The girlfriend accused Ondriel of beating her, tying her up, and allegedly even forcing her to sleep in the bathtub because he didn’t want a “messy” clean-up if he killed her in her sleep. She also claimed he had allegedly beaten her as well as shot her in the foot to keep her silent after the double homicide, which is why she had two black eyes and a boot on her foot in the bodycam footage.
When Ondriel was eventually interrogated, he denied everything while maintaining an eerily egotistical demeanor, but he was still charged with two counts of murder based on the evidence against him. In the end, in May 2024, he was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of carrying a firearm as a felon, and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with his girlfriend’s abuse. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole, so today, at age 42, he is incarcerated at the minimum-medium-security James Crabtree Correction Center in Helena, Oklahoma. We should mention that all charges against him in connection with the April 2018 and Incredible Pizza shootings were dismissed.
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