Sex offender made phony posters of Blairsville woman

By MEGAN MATTEUCCI

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A convicted sex offender said he was just trying to help when he made phony reward posters for a missing Blairsville mom.

Gibson Williams said Thursday that he had no attention of harming missing mom Kristi Cornwell’s family when he copied the woman’s photograph, listed his phone number and printed up several posters promising a $100,000 reward.

Cornwell, 38, was reportedly abducted Aug. 11 while walking near her parents’ Blairsville home. She was chatting on her cellphone with her boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, investigators said.

Williams, 38, said he doesn’t know the Cornwells and learned of the abduction when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation questioned him and about 180 other sex offenders in the area.

“They showed me the poster and I thought I got a mother, a wife, a sister,” Williams said. “From my time in prison, I know money makes a difference. I wasn’t trying to fraudulent. I was just trying to put a number out there, something that couldn’t be ignored.”

GBI agents questioned Williams about the phony posters and ruled him out as a suspect.

“He was trying to help and thought it would bring attention to it. There just wasn’t $100,000,” GBI spokesman John Bankhead said Thursday. “There was nothing to charge him with.”

Richard Cornwell, the missing woman’s brother, said a cousin was hanging posters at a Union County store and saw the sign offering $100,000.

The family called the number and began checking it online to find out who it belonged to. Within minutes, Richard Cornwell traced the number to Williams.

“Then we did a Google search and he came up on the sex offender registry,” he said. “I saw he had committed a kidnapping. It was shocking. My adrenaline was pumping. I thought we were really on to something hot.”

The GBI searched Williams’ Hiawassee home and found no evidence he was involved in the abduction.

Williams said he was 17 when he was convicted of kidnapping and robbing a “dope dealer” in Douglas County. He was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to life plus 20 years, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

He was released from prison in January 2008 and placed on the sex offender registry because the kidnapping victim was a minor.

“They retroactively made me a sex offender. There is no sexual elements to the crime,” Williams said. “I did a lot of time in prison and I like think I can be a normal citizen now.”

Richard Cornwell said the sex offender scare occurred during the second week of the search, but he was not permitted to talk about it until this week after the GBI closed that portion of the investigation.

Williams said he has since taken all of his posters down and wants to apologize to the Cornwell family.

“I made a mistake,” he said. “I hate that I complicated what they are feeling at this time. I wanted to go out and help her, but I couldn’t.”

Richard Cornwell said he just continues to pray that someone will find his sister alive.

“We’re still hopeful she’s out there alive and just waiting on us to find her,” he said.

The GBI continues to look into leads, but still have no clues what happened to Cornwell. They investigated reports of an attempted kidnapping of a jogger in nearby Murphy, N.C. and determined it is not connected, Bankhead said.

The GBI identified a large-size white SUV, and a tan or gold subcompact car, as vehicles possibly driven by Cornwell’s abductor.

The family is offering a $50,000 reward. Anyone with information may call the GBI at 1-800-597-8477.