Cops looking for suspect in sex assault find dead wife in N.J. motel room

Authorities looking for an ex-con accused of sexually assaulting a Wildwood woman found his estranged wife dead inside his motel room this week.

Michael Wayne Williams, 29, has not been charged in the death of Ebony Flanders, 32, but he is being held on $1 million bail in the Cape May County jail in the sexual assault.

According to the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office, Williams, posing as a social worker, convinced a woman to let him into her home on New Jersey Avenue, in Wildwood. Once inside, authorities say, he sexually assaulted the woman and threatened her family with a weapon.

Williams was tracked down and arrested on Wednesday, at the Court House Motel, on Route 9 in Middle Township, where authorities found Flanders.

The cause and manner of her death are still under investigation, and no new information was released yesterday.

Williams has spent more than three years in prison for numerous offenses, including burglary and conspiracy.

According to Middle Township Police, Williams called police about 2 a.m. March 6 and asked them to remove two unwanted females from his room at the Offshore Motel, in Rio Grande.

When officers arrived, they learned that Williams had groped one of the women when he reached down her shirt and took out $200, police said.

Williams was charged with aggravated sexual contact and taken to the county jail on $50,000 bail. It was unclear when or how Williams made bail.

In February, authorities had arrested Flanders on charges that she slashed Williams in the chest with a knife at the Mar Lee Motel, also in Rio Grande. Flanders was charged in that incident but released.

Flanders' family could not be reached for comment, but told 6ABC that she had gone to the motel with Williams because he had threatened to burn down her house and kill her seven children.

Williams is being held on charges of aggravated sexual assault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and making terroristic threats. *