Reward doubled to $40,000 in cold case murders of Windsor mother and son

The Windsor Police Service and Windsor Police Services Board have doubled the reward to $40,000 for information leading to an arrest in the murders of a Windsor mother and her son.

“There are people out there who know who is responsible for this double murder or who have information that can help us solve this crime,” said Daniel Potvin, Superintendent in charge of investigations. “We hope the additional reward money will provide the incentive these people need to come forward and tell what they know. Even a small piece of information that someone thinks is trivial be the missing evidence that allows our investigations to connect the dots and finally solve this mystery.”

On the 20th anniversary of these horrific homicides, police announced Monday that they have increased the reward from $20,000 to $40,000.

News conference in the cold case murder of Debilleanne (Dee Dee) Williamson and Brandon (Xavier) Rucker in Windsor, Ont., on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

“Twenty years is a very long time of not knowing and unanswered questions,” said Dee Dee’s niece Nike Williamson.

She said while she was very young when the crime happened, it is something that is on her mind daily.

“I had to grow up at a young age knowing that monsters aren’t just something under the bed,” Williamson said. “It’s people who walk among us. It hurts me to know that my aunt probably fought until her last moment. For my cousin, that his last moments were in fear.”

Const. Steve Owen, lead investigator on the case said there have been numerous persons of interested who have been ruled out through DNA evidence.

“Through the years like I said, there's been numerous persons of interest some were easily rolled out. Some have not been some are still persons of interest and some are strong persons of interest where there may be more than one thing that points to that person,” he said. “But at this point, we're not prepared to say it's this one individual.”

Const. Owen said Dee Dee had friends on both sides of the border, so there are persons of interest in both Detroit and Windsor. He said the focus is evenly split between the two cities with Detroit police cooperating.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Major Crimes Unit at 519-255-6700, ext. 4830. They can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS) or online at www.catchcrooks.com. 

Debilleanne (Dee Dee) Williamson and her son Brandon (Xavier) Rucker are shown in this undated photo. (Source: Windsor police)