Craig Williamson

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by cdr369

I believe Craig faked it. I never bought his story.

I did feel bad for his wife, because she obviously did buy into amnesia. I wonder if after a few years whether she changed her opinion on what actually happened.

When I was younger, I thought the whole thing was legit. Like "Tyler." Now that I'm old and cynical, I feel differently about a lot of these type of cases.

I agree with you-- I think Craig faked it, too.

[Todd Mueller]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

When I was younger, I thought the whole thing was legit. Like "Tyler." Now that I'm old and cynical, I feel differently about a lot of these type of cases.

I agree with you-- I think Craig faked it, too.

I agree, too. He may have been mugged and had a head injury, but my guess is that he had a nervous breakdown over the debt he had incurred and decided to "amnesia" his way out of it.

I feel horrible for his poor ex-wife. She seems like a good person who really had her world turned upside down.

[Smoore01]

I wouldn't feel too bad for that particular ex-wife she wasn't as sweet and caring as she seemed on the show. As I recall (and it has been many years since I watched it) she made it seem as if she was the only person looking for him. She left out that he had 4 kids, 2 grandkids, an ex-wife, a brother and lots of other family and friends searching the entire west coast. Plastering flyers from northern Washington to Mexico. We knew he would head back to the ocean, with or without his memory, it's his first love and calls to his soul. Just didn't figure he would head east instead of west. I think being so far inland for so many years was actually killing him.
I remeber her saying on the show something to the affect that everyday was like a Honeymoon. Not much of a honeymoon when one of you sleeps on the couch every night (for years) because the other is "a light sleeper", at least that's my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she was/is a bad person, I'm just saying most people put their best face foward when they are on a TV show, and it's not always a completely honest face.

I remember when I saw the episode (it was one of the updates after he had been found) I was watching with my oldest child. I remember getting so angry at her while watching it. When they did the update at then end and showed his picture from when he was found my son asked me who that guy they were showing was, I said "I don't know, but it's not my Daddy. My Daddy looks like Santa Clause." I had never in my life seen him without a beard and moustache, so how anyone who didn't know him before he grew them recognized him is beyond me. Thankfully by the time he came home he was back to looking like Santa Clause.
Oh and just fyi, the car was rented when he got to town, before he went missing, so that he didn't have to drive the bus around town while he was there, also he often asked her to call and make sure he was up in the morning when he was out of town, so that was nothing new.
Craig still maintains his spotty version of the events. Ever since thus happened he gets severe headaches and has memory issues.

As for Christine, I don't know what happened to her after the divorce don't really care to. The time I spent with them in Wisconsin was enough Christine to last me a lifetime. Personally I think the are both idiots for getting married so quickly, it was quite a shock to everyone who knew him. I'm sure it was also quite a shock to everyone who knew her as well.

I don't know what really happened and probably never will. All I know was that it was very painful for everyone invovled, not just Christine and Craig, and we were all very happy to get him back. He was and still is a good man who worked hard his whole life and a good father. Maybe not the best husband, but also far from the worst.

[mikewho]

Hard to know for sure but it seems like he faked it to just leave everything behind and start over completely.

[lashlarue]

A lot of people seem to think that Craig faked the whole thing to get away from a marriage or financial commitment he no longer wanted to be a part of. That could very well be true, but what troubles me is if that was the case, why would he be the one to call UM? If it was his intentions to run away and start life anew, why call in and draw attention to yourself and possibly he found out on the hoax? It would seem to me he'd just keep going on with his life and keeping his fingers crossed no one recognized him from the program.

[SomethingWilder]

Originally Posted by lashlarue

A lot of people seem to think that Craig faked the whole thing to get away from a marriage or financial commitment he no longer wanted to be a part of. That could very well be true, but what troubles me is if that was the case, why would he be the one to call UM? If it was his intentions to run away and start life anew, why call in and draw attention to yourself and possibly he found out on the hoax? It would seem to me he'd just keep going on with his life and keeping his fingers crossed no one recognized him from the program.

Guilt made him call UM. I don’t peg him as a terrible guy without a conscience, he just took a cowardly way to get out of an overwhelming situation. I’m guessing when he saw Unsolved Mysteries and how ultra ultra dedicated (or obsessed) his wife was with finding him, he felt somewhat guilty and decided to at least finally give her (and him) some closure.

I could be totally wrong, maybe the amnesia thing is true, and would feel bad if it was, but there are too many red flags here. If it really were amnesia, I just feel like he would have at least given The Fish Life another shot.

[Mike82]

I'm in the minority that believes "Tyler" (Arthur Paul Beal) but I don't believe Craig Williamson had amnesia for one second. It all just seemed WAY too convenient that he would end up alive and well so far from his home and how the couple split up shortly after.

[schmave]

^ Not according to smoore1. There's definitely an ax to grind there from someone's perspective.

[amandab1234]

I rarely believe any of the amnesia victims. I believed him when I was younger but now it seems like he wanted out of a rushed marriage & didn’t (excuse my language lol) have the balls to confront Christine about it. Guilt is what made him finally reach out to her.

[sdb4884]

Suppose it's a case of UM not telling the whole story, had no idea of course that Williamson had another family and people looking for him.

[Latka Gravas]

Re: this CW case, I'm torn as to whether he legitimately had amnesia (as he claimed) or was faking it.

It does seem clear that he did have some kind of head injury prior to going on the business trip to CO; so, I guess it's feasible that he could have been mugged & beaten (as he claimed) and did lose his memory.

However, it's also possible (as has been suggested), that he faked the amnesia to escape his new marriage & job responsibilities, etc.

[rusty spike]

Maybe someone can help me with my memory (pun intended).

The UM segment implied that Craig drove to Colorado to sell his fish, but several articles have indicated that he went to buy fish.

I suppose it really doesn't matter since he's been located.

I am in the camp that he wanted to get out of his marriage. He apparently suffered headaches so I am not convinced that he was mugged. I also think the Amtrak guy was someone who had too much to drink.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

Maybe someone can help me with my memory (pun intended).

The UM segment implied that Craig drove to Colorado to sell his fish, but several articles have indicated that he went to buy fish.

I suppose it really doesn't matter since he's been located.

I am in the camp that he wanted to get out of his marriage. He apparently suffered headaches so I am not convinced that he was mugged. I also think the Amtrak guy was someone who had too much to drink.

I've expressed my opinion on this before.. Yes, he wanted out. And.. Perhaps, I can't blame him.

Look at what the woman did to find him. If she was that way through the marriage.. I can kinda see him looking for a way out.

When you look back on news stories prior to his disappearance or newspaper articles.. There's a.. She's the leader in that relationship/business. Craig appears to be quite uncomfortable with it all.

I think you may have just had two completely different personalities that didn't mesh and Craig really didn't want to hurt her.. but underestimated the lengths she'd go to trying to find him.

[James T]

This is one I have really changed my mind on. I think now it was simply a case of rushing into a marriage & finding out he didn't really love her-while she clearly was totally besotted with him, he ran up debts, was in over his head & concocted a way to get out.

[Janel "Jaycee" Miller]

I was wondering whatever happened to the people in this case, and found this update about Christine's family:
https://www.codyenterprise.com/news/...df81453b2.html