In February 2020, Lakisha Williams received news that no mother ever wants to get.
Her 26-year-old son, Marquis Martin, was missing.
Lakisha says Marquis was always known for his joy. “He was a happy child. You know, he loved to ride his bike,” Lakisha told Dateline. “Marquis had the most beautiful smile, and he had good hugs.”
At the time of his disappearance, Marquis was a teaching assistant at Drew Central High School and a part-time McDonald’s employee, living in Monticello, Arkansas. Lakisha says Marquis loved supporting his students, and would give them rewards for getting good grades.
Lakisha also shared stories of Marquis helping a community member load groceries into their car and helping another install curtains in their home. “He’ll give his shirt — and I have seen him do this — give his shirt off his back to someone,” she said.
Marquis’s disappearance came as a shock to Lakisha. She says that after she got the call from an old classmate of hers telling her that her son was missing, she sat in her bathroom for hours, processing the information. “I could not move,” Lakisha said.
While police began investigating Marquis’s disappearance, Lakisha organized her family and community to search for him. “Valentine’s Day, that was our first search,” Lakisha said. “Imagine searching for your son on Valentine’s Day.”
During this time, Lakisha and her family found strength in their faith. “All we could do is pray and trust and lean on God,” she said. The family searched for Marquis for nearly a month.
In March 2020, they got some answers.
Lakisha was at work when she heard the news from a friend: her son’s body had been found. “I’m just hollering, screaming, crying, hugging anybody that will hug me,” she remembered.
NBC affiliate KTVE began reporting on the case when Marquis first went missing, and continued reporting on it following the discovery of his body. Mark Gober, the Drew County sheriff at the time, told KTVE he believed the crime happened elsewhere and Marquis’s body was dumped in that creek just outside of the Wilmar city limits. KTVE reported that investigators had interviewed about 45 people in the case. KTVE obtained the official autopsy report, which Lakisha also shared with Dateline. It states the only injury sustained was from a gunshot to his head.
Dateline contacted the Arkansas Department of Public Safety State Crime Laboratory to request an interview with the medical examiners assigned to the case. The communications director replied on behalf of the lab that they respectfully declined to participate in the story.
Marquis’s case quickly grew tangled: Lakisha heard rumors left and right about what happened to her son. Rumors regarding the then-sheriff, his sons, and a photo containing a racial slur circulated throughout the community and on social media. Gober told KTVE the rumors were unfounded and not helpful to the case. “I know where it came from and that was a fellow employee and a fellow political candidate that ran against me. Our names would have never came up had someone not put this information out there and if he knew something he should come forward with something,” Gober said.
No arrests have been made in the case, but Gober told KTVE that there had been persons of interest in the case, on which he couldn’t comment. Dateline reached out to Gober but has not received a response.
In 2022, Gober lost his bid for re-election and was succeeded by Tim Nichols.
Dateline reached out to Sheriff Nichols’ office for an update on the status of the investigation, but did not receive a response. However, in February — a few days after the 6-year anniversary of Marquis’s disappearance — Nichols posted a press release on the Drew County Sheriff’s Office website to update the public on the case.
In the update, Nichols said he requested that the Arkansas State Police take over the case but the request was denied due to the length of time that had passed since Marquis’s death. Dateline contacted the Arkansas State Police for more information regarding the denial, but has not yet heard back. Nichols said he also tried getting out-of-state forensic evidence examinations done, “but the labs in the other states such as Texas stated that their results would not detect anything different.”
“With all of this being said I want to ensure you that we are not done and have some cell phone tower information in which we will be sending to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Quantico, Virginia for further analysis,” Nichols wrote.
Finally, he addressed the rumors circulating online. “I want to express that while we want nothing more than to solve this case and bring justice to light, we cannot build a case on rumors and speculation,” Nichols said. “We must have facts.”
Lakisha continues to fight for justice for her son. “I know that I’m not going to be able to live my life completely until I get closure,” she said. “Some days I’m happy, some days I’m sad, you know, and I just have to keep fighting.”
Anyone with information about Marquis Martin’s case is asked to contact the Drew County Sheriff’s Department at 870-367-6211 or email info@drewcountysheriff.com.
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