Trial begins against man accused of murdering missing East Texas woman

TYLER, Texas – The trial of a man accused of killing a Tyler woman who was last seen in April 2023 began Tuesday.

Jesse Lee Williams is accused Murder in connection with the death of Paula Belonga, 51He was arrested after officers received evidence allegedly pointing to his involvement.

Belonga was last seen on April 7, 2023, leaving her apartment complex on Paluxy Drive in her white Chevrolet Impala. According to an affidavit, Belonga's brother told police on April 9, 2023, to pick up their son in Lakes Charles, Louisiana.

Later, a ping of Belonga's phone showed it was at an address in Tatum. The Rusk County Sheriff's Office found Belonga's vehicle parked next to a mobile home, the document states.

A woman at the trailer park told police Williams parked Belonga's car in front of the house and said he was watching the car and the house to see if anyone was out of town, the affidavit said. In one phone call, Williams claimed he had just gotten off the phone with Belonga and she “sounded OK.”

He gave officers a number where they could reach them, but no one answered, the document says.

Williams pleaded not guilty after the state read the charges against him.

Smith County Assistant District Attorney Emil Mikkelsen said in his opening statement that Paula Belonga had made Tyler her home since 2023. She had family, friends and co-workers that she loved. She was known to neighborhood children as the grandma of the apartment.

She never left her dog, her best friend, alone in her apartment and never came to work without calling the office. Her son texted her, wondering what happened when she was supposed to pick him up in Louisiana on April 7, 2023.

The lead led investigators to Tatum, a place Belonga has no connection to. Her vehicle was found at the home of a woman who had an on-off relationship with Williams, and Williams gave police a number to be linked to Belonga, Mikkelsen said.

The text messages in which she told police to leave her and her “boyfriend” Williams alone did not sound like the way Belonga would speak, according to friends.

Williams claimed in a police interview that he and Belonga were involved in a robbery together, Mikkelson said. He said the state will present cellphone geolocation data showing the path Belonga's phone took on April 7, 2023.

Mikkelsen said Belonga's phone left Tyler, went through Henderson and then reached Tatum in the trailer park where Williams lives. The phone then traveled to Zavalla, where her car was later found, and the phone remained there until about 3 a.m. Data shows Williams' phone took the same route as Belonga's phone.

Her phone was with Williams when he went hunting in the Henderson area and met up with another girlfriend, but Belonga herself was not, Mikkelsen said. When investigators got into his phone, they found Williams was searching for things like “how to silence my gun,” “body found in Rusk County” and “how quickly does a body decompose.”

During a search based on Belonga's cell phone location, a search party found Belonga's necklace.

“Jesse Williams was trying to commit the perfect murder and he came pretty close to achieving his goal,” Mikkelsen said.

Belonga had not been seen for nearly a year and a half and was gone because she was dead, the state said.

Defense attorney Mishae Boren said the prosecution's evidence was not enough to prove Williams killed Belonga. She said the state was asking the jury to make major logical advances because the case was missing key puzzle pieces such as the crime scene, motive and body.

At the end of the trial, the defense asks the jury to acquit Williams.

The state played a 911 call from April 9 (two days after Belonga was last seen) reporting that Belonga was missing.