Betrayed by the Badge: The Disappearances of Felipe Santos & Terrance Williams.

Felipe Maximino Santos was humble and hardworking, and his hobbies included basketball and soccer. He spoke fluent Spanish and limited English. He was born on January 1st, 1979, in Oaxaca, Mexico and was the second of five brothers.

Around the year 2000, Felipe moved to Florida and started working as an undocumented immigrant in the farm fields and construction sites. Most of his salary went back to his family.

In May 2003 Felipe's wife had given birth to a daughter. He loved being a father, and he didn’t go out much. He was most often seen going to and from work or the laundromat. Felipe's brother Salvador wrote that “His dreams were to get ahead, to have a home where he lived with his family.”

On October 14, 2003, 24-year-old Felipe woke up not feeling well. His wife told him to stay home from work, but he left at 6:30 am anyway. He was driving with two of his brothers to work at a concrete and masonry company when his white Ford Tempo collided with a Mazda Protege near the Green Tree Shopping Center, at the intersection of Airport-Pulling and Immokalee roads in North Naples. Afterwards, Felipe and the Mazda’s driver, Camille Lach, pulled into a gas station parking lot. Lach told an investigator that one of Felipe's brothers offered her money if she wouldn’t call the police. Lach called the police anyway.

Collier County sheriff’s deputy, Corporal Steven Henry Calkins, was dispatched to the scene. He arrived at 6:55 a.m. and quickly determined that the crash that caused minor damage had been Felipe's fault. Felipe had no driver's license and no insurance. Calkins cited Santos for reckless driving and driving without a license or insurance and placed him in his patrol car and drove away. Felipe has never been seen since.

Later in the afternoon, Felipe's construction foreman contacted the Collier County jail so his brothers could post bail, but he was told that Felipe had never been brought into either of the county jails. Calkins claimed that he changed his mind about the arrest, because Felipe was "polite and cooperative". "I decided to issue him citations for the offenses instead of taking him to the jail… I didn’t want to leave him by his car, ‘cause I was afraid he was gonna drive off, as I’ve seen in the past. Um, so I went down just a few blocks away to the Circle K store located on Immokalee Road and Winterview Drive. Once there, I brought the driver outside and we talked, and I issued him his citations and I gave him a copy of the crash report and I gave him back his car keys and I explained to him not to drive his car anymore until he could get a valid driver’s license."

Lach contradicted that report, stating that Calkins was agitated about Felipe's lack of documentation. "He just stated that he was tired of pulling people over that didn't have licenses."

There was no evidence that Felipe ever arrived at the Circle K. Calkins' whereabouts after leaving the site of the accident was uncertain for nearly two hours. It was also uncertain why Calkins would have driven him there. Felipe and his brothers weren’t far from work, and their foreman was on the way to pick them up.

Felipe's family started calling hospitals. They also wondered since Felipe was undocumented, that maybe he’d been picked up by immigration authorities.

On October 29, two weeks later, after Calkins submitted his incident report, Felipe's family filed a missing person's report, as well as a complaint against Calkins. 

The sheriff’s office opened an internal-affairs investigation and assigned it to Sgt. Doug Turner to the case. On November 4, Turner interviewed Calkins. Turner said that he had found Calkin's story a little odd. Turner wondered why Calkins didn’t take him to jail and to the Circle K instead. 

On November 27th, a judge issued a bench warrant for Felipe after he failed to appear in court. The same day Capt. Jim Williams reviewed the internal-affairs investigation cleared Calkins of any wrongdoing. He wrote "I can find no basis for linking Cpl. Calkins with the alleged disappearance of Santos … I believe that Calkins’s actions in this situation were reasonable, lawful and proper." Felipe's wife, Apolonia Cruz-Cortez, has questioned the quality of the investigation into the disappearance, citing the fact that she had not been interviewed by investigators.

On December 2, Calkins was exonerated of "carelessness in duty performance" in the disappearance of Felipe Santos.

Terrance Deon Williams was an easy going and quiet man who liked reading about Socrates. He was born on January 17th, 1976, in Chatanooga, Tennesse to Marcia Williams. Marica was 17 when she had Terrance, so she basically grew up with him. He was her little buddy, and they would do pretty much everything together.

When Terrance was a teenager himself, he became a father and would go on to have four children by four different women.

In the 1990's Terrance was charged with trespassing and spent time in prison for aggravated robbery.

In 2001, Marica moved to Naples, Florida and Terrance came along with her at got a job in construction and as a cook at Pizza Hut in Bonita Springs. He also moved in with Jason Gonzalez who was a co-worker of Marica's.

Terrance’s young son Tarik lived nearby with Marcia. Terrance and Tarik played video games and went to the mall together, and Terrance regularly cut Tarik’s hair. He was a skilled barber who dreamed of opening his own shop. 

On Sunday January 11th, 2004, 27-year-old Terrance attended a work party at a friend's house.

Monday, Terrance was driving to work in his 1983 Cadillac. He was due at work at Pizza Hut at 10.a.m. when a patrol car with its lights flashing pulled up behind him. Terrance pulled into a parking space at the Naples Memorial Gardens cemetery. He didn't have a license due to it being suspended for driving under the influence he also didn't have proper registration. 

Jeff Cross, a family service counselor, was standing on the porch of an administrative building at the cemetery as he watched Terrance and sheriff's deputy Steve Calkins get out of their vehicles. The deputy then patted Terrance down. Terrance kept patting his pockets and putting his hands in the air, making it clear he didn’t have a driver’s license. Calkins put Terrance in the back of the patrol car and drove away.

Sometime after noon that day, the Calkins returned to the cemetery to have the Cadillac towed away. At 12:49, he placed a recorded call to dispatch. It was answered by Cpl. Dave Jolicoeur, a patrol deputy who was filling in on the dispatch desk. 

Calkins: "Yes, this is One Alpha 30 North Naples could you run a VIN for me, please?"

Dispatch: "For 30 bucks. You gotta give me 30 bucks first."
Calkins: "How about 20?"
(Laughter)

(Inaudible)

Calkins: "I got a homie Cadillac on the side of the road here. Signal 11, signal 52, nobody around."(Signal 11- abandoned, and Signal 52-disabled.)

Calkins: "The tag comes back to nothin’, it’s a big old white piece of junk Cadillac,” Calkins said. “I’m towin’ it."

Calkins: "It’s gonna come back to one of the brothers up in Fort Myers."

(LAUGHTER)

Dispatch looked up the number in a database and told Calkins the vehicle had no assigned registration. 

(LAUGHTER)

Dispatch: "It’s a homes’ car."

Calkins: "We just drive it, man."

Dispatch: "We don’t follow no rules, sucka."

Calkins: "We just be driven' it, man."

Dispatch asked where the car was, the deputy said it was at the cemetery at the corner of Vanderbilt and 111th.

Calkins: "Maybe he’s out there in the cemetery. He’ll come back and his car will be gone."

At 1:12 p.m., Calkins called to ask for warrants check on Terrance D. Williams and said the date of birth was April 1st, 1975. It was not Terrence's real date of birth; it was a false one that he would sometimes give the police when he was in a jam. After this call, Calkins was unaccounted for nearly an hour; this period may actually be closer to two hours, as Calkins' claims of other activities are not corroborated by any documentation.

The next day Gonzalez woke up and looked at his phone and realized that he had numerous missed calls from Terrance. Terrance never returned home, and his mother hadn't heard from him either. Marica had a bad feeling and went to Collier County to report Terrance missing. They told her that he was an adult and that he was free to do what he wanted to do and shrugged her off.

Gonzalez called every hospital and police department, but Terrance was nowhere to be found. Terrance's family called every place they could think of and one of those places was a tow company. It turned out that Terrance's car had been from Naples Memorial Cemetery after obstructing traffic and the officer that had it towed was Deputy Steve Calkins of the Collier County Sheriff's Department.

Marica went to the cemetery to talk to the workers. They told her that a Calkins had pulled Terrance over and had put him in the back of the cruiser and drove away with him. The name on the name tag was Steve Calkins. Before Calkins drove away, he asked the cemetery employees if he could leave the Cadillac in the lot. Calkins was witnessed returning to the cemetery between fifteen minutes and an hour later and moving the Cadillac from a parking spot to the side of the road. The car keys were found on the ground beside the car.

Marica had a friend that was a notary and had her come to the cemetery and have the workers sign sworn avadavats of what they saw. She then went to the sheriff's department and told them that she had proof that Terrance had been picked up and put in the back of a police cruiser. Dispatcher Kathy Maurchie called Calkins and asked him if he remembered having towing Terrance's car.

Kathy Maurchie: "Steve."

Calkins: "Yeah."

Kathy: "I hate to bother you at home on your day off, but this woman’s been bothering us all day. [LAUGHS] You towed a car from Vanderbilt and 111th on Monday? A Cadillac? Do you remember it?"

Calkins: "No."

Kathy: (PAUSE) "Do you remember — she said it was near the cemetery."

Calkins: (PAUSE) "Cemetery."

Kathy: "Anyway, the people at the cemetery are tellin’ her you put somebody in the back of your vehicle and arrested him, and I don’t show you arresting anybody."

Calkins: "I never arrested nobody."

Kathy: "That’s what I thought. Okay."

Calkins: "I gotta think about this one for a while."

Kathy: "But you’re sure no one was with that vehicle."

Calkins: "No."

Kathy: "It was around 12:30 in the afternoon?"

Calkins: (SILENCE) (LAUGHS) "Jesus, I can’t remember."

Kathy: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) "… you’re gettin’ to be my age, huh?" (LAUGHS)

Calkins: "Damn."

Kathy: (LAUGHS)

Calkins: "What do they want?"

Kathy: "Well, there’s somebody at the cemetery who’s telling the mother that you picked up the driver and he’s been missing since Monday."

Calkins: "Oh, for Pete’s sakes."

Kathy: "And I said, 'He didn’t arrest anybody.'"

Calkins: "No."

Kathy: "But she keeps calling and (saying), ‘Well, there’s got to be some way you can get a hold of ’im.’ … I think she spoke to every dispatcher in here today."

Calkins: (SIGHS)

Kathy: "Anyway, I was trying to figure out what color the Cadillac was. I forgot. I got it right in front of me. You picked it up at 12:27, on Vanderbilt and 111th. And Coastland came and got it. A large white Cadillac."

Calkins: "Large white Cadillac. I got to look it up in my notes. I don’t remember. God almighty."

Kathy: "But you’re sure you didn’t — you’re sure there was no one with it?"

Calkins: "No."

Kathy called Terrance's aunt.

Kathy: "Hi this is the sheriff's office. I talked to deputy Calkins."

Pamala Willams: "Mmm hmm."

Kathy: "And he did not pick up anybody with that vehicle."

Pamala: "He did not?"

Kathy: "He did not."

Pamala: "People at the cemetery said that they saw a police officer in a Collier County Sheriff's department car put him in the car and take him away."

Kathy: "Ok. If there was an officer out there... there's over 900 officers here. We'd have to have a car number to know who it was. There is no way i can find out if somebody gave him a ride somewhere."

Pamala: "When i called they said that the way you could track him would be the report at the street that he was picked up on."

Kathy: "There was no report taken. That is what i am telling you. There was no report taken from that area on Monday. No one picked him up. So, whoever is telling you this is either giving you the wrong information or it's not the same person."

Pamala: "Ok."

Kathy: "Ok?"

Pamala: "Thanks."

Kathy: "You're welcome."

A few days later, Calkins's supervisors asked him to submit an incident report. His report states that he first came in contact with Terrance when at 12:15 pm, after noticing that his car was driving "in distress". This was contrary to the time the cemetery workers claimed and didn't make sense since Terrance was due at work at 10 a.m. Calkins claimed he followed Terrance to the cemetery parking lot, and that he had asked for a ride to a nearby Circle K convenience store because he was late for work. Calkins claimed that he told Terrance “He had better make plans right away to get his car and he said that he would take care of it, and he thanked me. I asked him for his name, and he said Terrance. I also warned him that his tag was expired but he said the receipt and proper registration were in the glovebox, if I wanted to check it out." 

Calkins wrote that he returned to the Cadillac and discovered that the proper registration was not in the car, so he called Circle K from his work-issued cell phone and asked to speak to Terrance. “I now phoned the Circle K and asked for Terrance and the clerk that answered the phone said she did not know any Terrance. I now felt that that Terrance had deceived me. I now called for a wrecker … thinking that the Cadillac was now abandoned … and maybe even stolen. After Coastland Towing removed the car, I went back to the Circle K and the surrounding area to search for Terrance … but I could not locate him.” Investigators checked his phone records and could find no proof that he called the Circle K. 

According to the report, Calkins then called in the license plate number and found that the plates were expired. However, further investigation revealed that there was no sign of Terrance or Calkins on surveillance footage from the Circle K, and the phone records from Calkins's cell phone showed no call to the Circle K. Circle K employees were interviewed, and no witnesses could be found to place Calkins or Terrance there. 

A frustrated and worried Marica called the local CBS news station desperate for someone to help her find out what happened to Terrance. She also went around town putting up missing person flyers and knocking on doors.

Calkins took a polygraph which showed some deception.

In August of 2004 Calkins was fired by the sheriff's department because they couldn't get him to fully cooperate in the investigation in Terrance and Felipe's disappearances.

In October 2004 a grand jury invited Calkins to testify. He refused but wasn't indicted.

The Mexican Consulate in Miami contacted Marcia to tell her about Felipe who had vanished in a similar fashion. Calkins claimed that he had dropped off Felipe at another Circle K, approximately four miles from the location where he claimed he dropped off Terrance.

Terrance was declared dead in 2009.

In January of 2016, Calkins sold his home and moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The new owners of Calkins' former home let the police search the property without a warrant, but nothing was found.

Fast forward to 2018. Tyler Perry had saw Marica's pleas on tv. He put her in touch with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. On August 30, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed against Calkins. In December of 2020 Calkins was compelled as part of the civil suit to sit for a four-and-a-half-hour deposition. During his sworn testimony, Calkins explained that he didn't take Terrance Williams to jail because what he remembered he "seemed like a really nice guy." That is pretty much all he claimed to remember. And he grew angry when a plaintiff's attorney tried to jog his memory.

Later that year, court appointed arbitrator ultimately ruled against the lawsuit, citing a lack of evidence. When Crump's attorneys missed a filing deadline to take the suit to trial, the judge sided with the arbitrator, dismissing the case and ruled that Marcia Williams had to pay Calkins around $5,600 for costs related to the lawsuit.

As of today Felipe and Terrance's disappearances remain unsolved.