Serena Williams’ half-sister has revealed her heartbreak after her murder. Police name son’s tragic overdose death as suspect.
Two years ago, Sabrina Williams’ youngest son, Alphonse, committed suicide in his Las Vegas home at age 20.
Sabrina, whose father is tennis coach King Richard, lives in her home with Alphonse and her eldest son Elijah, now 26, and was there at 7 a.m. :30 Go wake him up.
He didn’t respond, and it took her about half an hour to call 911 after she found him dead.
The 59-year-old could not explain the delay, but it was enough for police to start questioning.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, she said: “I was a ‘person of interest’ and I wasn’t ruled out until three months later when they got all the blood test results back. This year it was a big deal for me It’s a big blow.”
“Because my son died so young, I found the bottle, I found the container, I touched the container, and I was hesitant to contact 911, according to police.
Learn more about Serena Williams
“Basically, I was thinking, ‘Do you think I killed my son?’
“I got up at the usual time, and at 7:30, I knocked on the door, but he didn’t answer. I thought it might be too early. I called him, but he didn’t answer, and then sent a text message, but still no answer.
“So I went to find the key, opened the door and he was gone. I touched his body and it was cold, rigor mortis had happened and I was just screaming for Eli.
“A female officer was questioning me when the police arrived. “So you found him at 7:30? “Why didn’t you call us right away? “What did you get around 7:30 to 8:00? “
“She said it took me 30 minutes to contact 911, what’s going on? I said, ‘I don’t know,’ but I was freaking out and he was obviously dead.
I touched his body, it was cold, rigor mortis had come, and I just screamed. “
Sabrina Williams
“The paramedics got better and said they knew how he died but they couldn’t confirm anything until they got all the reports back.
“I know it’s nothing personal, but it hurts.
“After he died, they put yellow tape around the house and I wasn’t allowed in. I hid all this stuff and didn’t tell anyone for almost two years.”
Stalking dad
Despite living through every parent’s worst nightmare, Sabrina didn’t expect a call from any of her relatives, certainly not her father Richard.
The father of two sports superstars, Serena and Venus, Sabrina left his first family when he was only 8 years old and told her he was going to buy her a bike.
Richard didn’t call then, nor did he call after his grandson Alphonse died, but Sabrina, the hospice chaplain, was used to dealing with grief alone.
However, her grief has hit her harder this year, and it’s only now that she can fully tell her story.
Sabrina never received any attention from her father like the Williams sisters and only met him a few times as an adult.
She said he had never met his two grandchildren.
When The American Sun interviewed Richard last year, he barely remembered his first family – he left behind five children and a wife in the 1970s.
Friar Richard appeared confused when asked directly about Sabrina, but he understood that she was the daughter of his first wife, Betty Johnson, and said he would be happy to be contacted.
Do not contact
There were no calls from family members other than her niece when Alphonse died or on any anniversary.
“Eli is kind of closed off about it and he doesn’t talk about it and a lot of my friends don’t talk about it,” Sabrina explained.
“It’s not that the rest of the family doesn’t mind, I think people just don’t know what to say. What do you say?
“Everyone else just wants you to move on. So it’s hard. If you lose a child, it’s hard to talk to people because they just don’t understand.
“I don’t know if it’s my age, but a lot of people tell me shit like, ‘You know, everything’s going to be okay.'”
“Everyone else just wants you to move on. So it’s hard. If you lose a child, it’s hard to talk to people because they just don’t understand.”
Sabrina Williams
“Are you in my situation? How do you know things are going to be okay? You’re not God, don’t tell me this.
“I tried to talk to the pastor’s wife and she said, ‘Maybe you should talk to some of the other women in the church who have lost people and sometimes you just need a good kick to get over something.’ ”
“I’m not a person who is easily comforted. Don’t tell me general things like God has a plan.”
“Everyone goes to my hometown church, but people think it’s a shameful thing to talk about mental health and suicide. But it does happen. We need to talk,” she added.
‘We need to talk’
This year has been especially difficult for Sabrina.
After Alphonse’s death, she moved 1,300 miles away to Iowa to start over, but as the second anniversary of his death approached, she suffered nearly a month of spiritual darkness.
However, she found a new way to cope with her grief and anger – sprinting.
Her tennis pro half-sister would be proud – and so would Alphonse, as he’s also an athlete.
mental anguish
“It’s terrible, worse than the day he died,” she said of the anniversary of Alphonse’s death.
“I think when he died I was still in the mindset of, ‘This isn’t real.'” But this year — man, it’s been awful. I turned it off.
“I just went to work and I didn’t want to talk to anyone and I had to control my anger, which started three weeks ago in January and I knew it was coming.
“It probably saved my soul and my mentality, I started doing six 10-second sprints in a row because sometimes I couldn’t get that anger out in any other way.
“It’s amazing, it puts me to sleep. I feel good about it, life is good.”
“That probably saved my soul and my mentality, I started doing ten-second sprints six times in a row because sometimes I couldn’t get that anger out in any other way.”
Sabrina Williams
“One day I was driving and I got really angry. I thought, I have to get off the road and sprint.
“I still take medication for depression, but it’s a whole different level. I don’t want to keep taking more medication for the pain, so this is how I’ve learned to deal with it,” she said.
“Alphonse is also a great runner.”
Sabrina changes as a result of Alphonse’s death, and she brings out the best traits of her character.
“I’m telling you, losing a child makes you more grateful every year. I’m a completely different person,” she added.
“I’m becoming more like Alphonse, I love breakfast and I never bother, but now if I don’t have oatmeal and a protein drink, my day isn’t good.
“I used to only have a wardrobe of black and blue, now my wardrobe is very colorful, like Alphonse, he’s a fashion dresser and I’m not. Yesterday I was wearing a dress. Not me at all.
“I’ve lost a lot of weight and I feel great. I feel really hot.
“I don’t care what people think, like Alphonse, it’s a big arrogance.”
YoIf you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255), chat at 988lifeline.org or text the Crisis Text Line at 741741.