San Diego restaurant staff stunned to find out chef of 10 years was an Iowa fugitive using alias

A San Diego chef was arrested this week on allegations that he’s spent the past 14 years on the run after fleeing Iowa, where he was facing prosecution for the alleged kidnapping, assault and shooting of a woman.

Brian Anthony Williams, 50, who has been working as a chef under the name “Troy Williams,” according to the U.S. Marshals Service, was charged in 2012 in Iowa’s Scott County, where he and co-conspirators allegedly kidnapped, assaulted and shot a woman, then left her in a field.

Williams has been working as head chef of Miss B’s Coconut Club in Mission Beach for about 10 years.

Williams allegedly fled Iowa to avoid prosecution, but the U.S. Marshals Service said it later learned he was living in San Diego and had appeared in local print and television news stories as Troy Williams.

Williams was arrested Tuesday at Miss B’s Coconut Club and is awaiting extradition to Iowa, where he faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, assault, conspiracy to commit a felony and first-degree arson. He also faces charges of unlawful flight for allegedly fleeing Iowa.

His colleagues were in utter shock and disbelief to learn that Williams was a fugitive.

NBC San Diego spoke with the restaurant’s general manager, Eddie Jurado, who said he was still processing everything that had just transpired.

Jurado was stunned when a friend called to inform him of Williams’ arrest at work on Tuesday morning. Jurado spoke with an investigator on the phone about the situation.

“He’s like, Troy is not coming back. I’m like, What? He’s like Google ‘Brian Anthony Williams.’ He couldn’t say anything. So I’m like, OK,” Jurado said.

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Jurado knew him really well — or at least thought he did. Jurado did indeed Google “Brian Anthony Williams” and a mug shot of his head chef came up.

“This is crazy, we’ve been through it. I’ve been here 10½ years, he’s been here 10½ years. He’s been running that kitchen for about eight or nine, once our first chef left and he took it over. We’ve been through Covid. I was his roommate for a while and he’s not even Troy,” Jurado said.

Jurado said he and his colleagues still can’t wrap their minds around how Williams managed to live under a different identity for as long as he did.

Employees feel very sorry for the victim and what she went through, Jurado said.

As of Wednesday, it is not yet known when Williams will be extradited to Iowa.