AMELIA, Va. -- CBS 6 obtained court documents in Chesterfield that show the State Attorney General's office petitioned the court to keep convicted sex offender Dana Lee William behind bars.
It stemmed from a 2013 rape conviction.
In this "Civil Commitment as a Sexually Violent Predator" order filed in September of 2014, the commonwealth called a number of expert witnesses who testified that William meets the criteria of likely engaging in sexually violent acts.
After nearly a year of legal wrangling, Chesterfield Circuit Court judge Timothy J. Hauler denied the commonwealth's request, last June, saying they had not proven their case.
Therefore Dana William, 43, was ordered to be immediately released and the case to be dismissed.
William served two years for that rape conviction in Chesterfield, 38 years of his sentence suspended.
Olene Brooks and her murdered husband. Woodell.
On Jan.21, 2016, investigators say William kidnapped Olene Brooks, 68, and murdered her husband Woodell. William was her former son-in-law.
William planned the cold and calculated killing and abduction, according to Brooks’ daughter Sheila Smith, because he blamed Brooks for encouraging his rape victim to press charges.
Smith was one of four family members held hostage while William lured Brooks to her home, investigators said.
Before Brooks' abduction, William allegedly zip-tied, duct-taped and held her family hostage at gun point.
"He told me in order for me to save my family, I would have to call my mom to the house,” Smith said. When she refused, she said things intensified. "He tied [my daughter] with zip ties and tied my friend up with zip ties, then tied me and my son up."
He then sent a text message to Brooks using her granddaughter's phone, law enforcement sources said, to lure the grandmother to the Poorhouse Road home. Brooks' daughter said the text asked Brooks to bring a thermometer over because the four-year-old was sick.
Police located William almost a week after Brooks was taken, in Massachusetts. Deputies said he shot himself.
The investigation continues, as does the search for Brooks; people who know the couple are devastated.
"It's tragic when you lose anybody, even if they're deathly ill,” said family friend Jerry Morris. “But to have to go through what the family has gone through. And knowing the outlook is very dim, for finding their mother. They've got to be heartbroken.”
A $3,500 reward is now being offered for information in this case.
