Lawrence County ‘cult leader’ arrested after missing woman’s body found
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The body of a missing woman has been found on her husband’s property in Lawrence County.
Sheriff Ryan Everett said Charles Sims of Silver Creek, led police to the body of La’Datra Williams in a heavily wooded area on Monday around 2:00 p.m.
Sims — who had been in custody since Friday, July 11 — requested to speak with him through sheriff’s office personnel. Sims informed the sheriff that searchers would “never find L. Williams” where they were currently looking and offered to lead them to her location.
With step-by-step directions, Sims led investigators to a location where he claimed to have buried the missing woman.
At approximately 11:30 p.m., teams from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, the Lawrence County Coroner’s Office, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and its Crime Scene Unit, the Mississippi State University Police Department Forensic Recovery Unit, and the MSU Department of Anthropology exhumed a shallow grave and recovered the remains of a deceased female.
DNA testing is currently underway to confirm the identity of the body.
According to family members who spoke with Darkhorse Press late last week, Sims’ living situation seemed to have been that of a cult, with La’Datra and two of Sims’ other three wives living and traveling between Kansas and Lawrence County.
La’Datra’s aunt, Audrey Rogers, said Williams had just been in Silver Creek when they believe another of the women told Sims that La’Datra had another love interest. Williams’ family said Sims then called her and told her to come right back.
“She told me what happened and I asked her if he was the type to lay hands and she told me no. I knew she was lying,” Rogers said. “I don’t believe she thought this would be like this. She believed she was going back to her babies. There is NOTHING no one can say that makes this normal… He has done this before. She isn’t the first person to try to leave him.”
Rogers said another wife had allegedly escaped at one point and Sims had made her come back, at which time she had taken her children and disappeared.
La’Datra’s last communication with Rogers was the morning she went missing, on May 20.
“I texted her at 6:10 a.m. and said, ‘Gm. U okay? U straight?’” Rogers said in an email. “She replied back at 6:21 a.m. and said, ‘Yes. About 30 minutes out.’ No call or text since. We video call a lot through messenger and no answer.”
If that weren’t enough, La’Datra had left her children with one of Sims’ other wives who Rogers said she didn’t trust or like, and that she would never have done that willingly.
La’Datra’s father, Eddie Williams, said Sims told him in a phone call on May 25 that he was “the last person to see her alive.”
Rogers said La’Datra had been reacquainted with Sims a few years back at a restaurant in Hazlehurst. As their relationship grew, the family began to worry, and they were told to mind their own business.
“I was told back in 2019 to respect her wishes and boundaries, that this was her relationship and that I raised her right and with a good head on her shoulders so trust her judgement,” Rogers said. “How I found out about all this was horrible. We were warned to accept or move on without communication. We decided to keep the communication.”
La’Datra’s family weren’t the only ones to allege that Sims had something of a cult situation going on with his compound in Lawrence County and his multiple wives and children.
“Charles believes he is the answer to everything. Charles believes he is a messiah,” Rogers said. “Charles believes no matter what the situation is he is the answer. That God ordained him to fix all issues and all women.”
Sims is alleged by La’Datra’s family to have more than 25 children, the last four of which belonged to Williams.
Content retrieved from: https://darkhorsepressnow.com/news/2025-07-15/lawrence-county-cult-leader-arrested-after-missing-womans-body-found/.
