San Diego Chef Arrested After 14 Years on the Run Under a False Identity

For more than a decade, Brian Anthony Williams appeared to have built a completely new life in San Diego.

He worked as a chef, appeared in local media and became known professionally as “Troy Williams.” But according to federal authorities, the identity was not his own — and behind the seemingly ordinary life was a man wanted in Iowa for nearly 14 years.

Williams, 50, was arrested Tuesday, Oct. 6, by U.S. Marshals at a business on Mission Boulevard in San Diego’s Mission Beach area. Authorities said he had been living under the assumed name “Troy Williams” while working as a chef at Miss B’s Coconut Club.

The arrest brought an unexpected end to a yearslong search for Williams, who had been wanted in connection with a violent 2012 kidnapping case in Davenport, Iowa.

A New Life Thousands of Miles Away

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Williams was charged in Scott County, Iowa, in October 2012 in connection with the alleged kidnapping and assault of a woman.

Authorities allege that Williams and other co-conspirators kidnapped and assaulted the woman before she was shot and left in a field in northwest Davenport.

He faced charges including first-degree kidnapping, assault causing serious injury, conspiracy to commit a felony and first-degree arson.

Williams later became the subject of a federal charge for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Investigators said he fled Iowa and remained a fugitive for almost 14 years.

During that time, authorities said he established himself in Southern California under a different identity.

By the time investigators located him, he had reportedly spent more than a decade working in San Diego’s restaurant industry. Miss B’s Coconut Club confirmed that the man known as Troy Williams had worked there as a chef for more than 10 years.

The apparent double life became even more striking because Williams had not simply remained out of the public eye. According to investigators, he had appeared in local publications and television reports under the assumed identity.

One local television report said Williams had even been interviewed in 2025 about ways to reduce food waste during the holidays, without reporters knowing that authorities considered him a fugitive wanted in Iowa.

The Tip That Finally Led Investigators to Him

The breakthrough came in September 2026, when the U.S. Marshals Service developed information indicating that Williams was living in San Diego.

Investigators began examining the identity of “Troy Williams” and discovered connections between the chef and the fugitive they had been searching for.

On Oct. 6, federal agents went to the Mission Beach business where Williams was working. Authorities said he was taken into custody without incident.

For people who had worked alongside him for years, the revelation was reportedly shocking.

Employees at Miss B’s Coconut Club said they had known him as Troy and had no idea that he was allegedly living under a false identity. The restaurant’s general manager described the discovery as deeply disturbing and said employees were struggling to reconcile the person they knew with the allegations from Iowa.

After 14 Years, the Case Moves Back to Iowa

Williams is being held in federal custody while he awaits extradition to Iowa, where he is expected to face the outstanding charges.

U.S. Marshal Ted Kamatchus of the Southern District of Iowa described the arrest as an example of how fugitive investigations can eventually uncover people who have spent years trying to disappear from law enforcement’s reach.

“Deputy U.S. Marshals remain resolute in their relentless pursuit” of dangerous fugitives, Kamatchus said.

The case now shifts back to Iowa, where prosecutors will have the opportunity to pursue the charges filed against Williams in 2012.

For San Diego, meanwhile, the arrest has left coworkers and members of the local community confronting an extraordinary revelation: a chef who appeared to have spent years building a new life in California was, according to federal authorities, actually a fugitive who had been sought for nearly 14 years.

Williams remains accused of the Iowa crimes and has not been convicted in the 2012 case. The charges will ultimately be addressed through the Iowa court system.

Source: New York Post, U.S. Marshals Service, NBC 7 San Diego, ABC 10News San Diego and Times of San Diego.