8 Famous People Who Went Missing (And Were Never Found)

4. Brian Williams

Vanished in 2002

The life of Brian Williams was always a mystery, even down to his name. For the first three decades of his life, the former NBA player was known as Williams, a mysterious forward with unfulfilled potential, who had many personal issues on and off court. For the last four years of his life, he was known as Bison Dele, a man who walked away from $36 million in potential NBA revenue to live a nomad’s life literally across the world. Unfortunately, on the 8 July 2002, his legacy was cut short as he disappeared suddenly.

Williams, the former college basketball star at the University of Arizona, and the NBA journeyman who played for five different teams, vanished into thin air on this date – or, more literally, into the deep blue waters off the coast of Tahiti.

He had retired at age 30, in the prime of his career, and walked away from the remaining five years, and $36.45 million he was offered to transfer to another team. Soon after, he decided to treat himself, and bought a boat named Hakuna Matata, possibly thinking it would give him ‘no worries for the rest of his days’... but on the 6 July 2002, he would set sail for the first and only time.

Williams, along with his brother Miles Dabord, his girlfriend, Serena Karlan, and the captain of the boat set sail from Tahiti. 14 days later, the boat came back, with only his brother aboard. Dabord fled, but was eventually caught on the 5 September after using his brother's name and passport, forging his signature, to buy $152,000 worth of gold. Two days earlier, the Hakuna Matata was found with its name plate removed and what appeared to be some possible bullet holes patched up.

Investigators couldn’t properly question Dabord however, as he intentionally took his own life by overdosing on insulin. So, we will never truly know what happened in the beautiful Tahiti.