Illinois man pleads guilty to 2014 murder in Mississippi County

CHARLESTON, Mo. — An Illinois man on Thursday entered a guilty plea in the 2014 murder of his wife in what Mississippi County Prosecuting Attorney Darren Cann deemed a surprise move.

Clifford Williams, 47, of Ullin, Illinois, entered a plea of guilty to one count of first-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action before Circuit Judge Fred Copeland at the New Madrid County Courthouse in New Madrid, according to a news release from Cann.

A jury trial for Williams was set to begin June 22. The charges stem from the killing of Williams’ wife, Sylvia Tipler, on or about Oct. 8, 2014, in Mississippi County.

Tipler’s body was found Oct. 12, 2014, near a levee in Mississippi County. Her family reported her missing to the Illinois State Police on Oct. 10, 2014.

During an investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Illinois State Police and Charleston Department of Public Safety, it was found Oct. 8, 2014. Tipler and Williams left Tipler’s mother’s residence in Ullin, the news release said.

Shortly after that, Tipler’s family lost contact with her.

During an interview by highway patrol Sgt. S. Rawson, Williams said he and Tipler were “riding and arguing,” and when they were in the area of Wilson City, Missouri, he hit Tipler in the nose.

He “didn’t want anyone to see them fight,” so they traveled to a levee near Wilson City, where they “got out of the car and started to fight.”

Williams said he “blacked out and something bad happened.”

The pathologist, Dr. Russell Deidiker, concluded the cause of death was “craniocerebral injuries, due to blunt force trauma to the back of the head,” according to the news release.

Deidiker also said Tipler “was struck multiple times, creating a gaping laceration in the posterior scalp with associated underlying skull fracture” and reported “multiple injuries elsewhere on the scalp, face and left neck, some of which are consistent with knife wounds.”

Deidiker also reported “knife wounds [to the] right chest, and accompanying blunt force trauma to the chest, with associated fracture of the sternum and the bilateral ribs.”

Tipler’s “punctures and incised-like” wounds on her hands were consistent with “defense-type” wounds; she had fractures in her left hand and her right forearm.

“This was an absolutely brutal murder,” Cann said.

Williams was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the first-degree murder count and 30 years in prison on the armed criminal action count.

Tipler’s mother, sister, daughter, grandson and granddaughter were present when Williams entered his plea. Williams cried as he was sentenced, according to Cann.

“Sylvia’s family has been through so much since October of 2014,” Cann said. “This case is one of the most vile, cruel and brutal murders that I’ve dealt with. I hope with his plea and sentence now in the past, it will bring them some peace as they move forward.”