Former ‘Hamilton’ Broadway dancer Zelig Williams vanishes in South Carolina park as police find abandoned car
A Broadway dancer — who performed in the hit musical “Hamilton” — has been missing for over a week, with police finding his car abandoned near a 500-mile-long trail in a popular South Carolina National Park.
Zelig Williams, 28, was last seen leaving his mother’s Columbia, SC., home on the morning of Oct. 3 and was reported missing when his family hadn’t heard back from the beloved dancer the next day, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said.
Williams was spotted driving around Congaree National Park after being reported missing, prompting authorities to comb the area.
Police said his car was then discovered in a parking lot near an entrance to the Palmetto Trail, a 500-mile hiking trail that runs across the state, near the Congaree National Park on Oct. 4.
It’s unclear exactly where his car was located in the national park.
The Post has contacted the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Williams stands at 6 ft. tall, has short black hair, a birthmark on his throat, and skin pigmentation on his legs and hands. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, black pants, and brown slides.
The dancer’s aunt, Christine McLaughlin Barber, told WACH on Monday that the family began to fear something was wrong minutes after Williams left his mother’s home over an odd “SOS ping” from his phone.
“Around 9:50 Thursday morning, he left just normally as he would,” Barber told the outlet. “About ten minutes later, we received an SOS ping from his phone from one of his friends in New York, indicating a crash.”
The family did not find any evidence of the crash, she told the outlet.
The 28-year-old’s family is now pleading with the public for any information on his whereabouts.
“Words can’t express what our family is going through right now,” McLaughlin Barber wrote on Facebook on Friday. “Please continue to pray pray pray for Zelig to come home safe. WE LOVE YOU ZELIG.”
Concern for the beloved dancer’s safe return has even been echoed by one of Broadway’s brightest stars.
Actor Hugh Jackman pleaded with the fans on his Instagram to come forward if they have any information on what happened to the dancer.
“Please… if anyone has any information as to the whereabouts of ZELIG WILLIAMS, please reach out to your local authorities,” the two-time Tony-winning performer wrote on his Instagram story along with a photo of Williams.
“ZELIG we love you and are praying for your safe return.”
Williams had recently moved back to South Carolina from New York City after pursuing his dream of being on Broadway.
Williams starred in Broadway’s “MJ Musical” from Feb. 2022 to Dec. 2023 and performed in the hit musical “Hamilton” from 2016 to 2017, according to his Playbill profile.
Williams’ performing career began in fourth grade in a school production of “The Wizard of Oz,” Dramatics, a publication of the International Thespian Society, an honor society for high school and middle school theatre students, reported.
“He went on to Broadway to perform in some very large shows and recently moved back home to share his experiences and help others,” another of William’s aunts, Mieoki Corbett-Jacobs, told WACH.
