Steven Williams confessed late Tuesday to killing his ex-wife Tricia Todd — for whom the Martin County Sheriff's Office searched for nearly a month — but not to where he disposed of her body, Sheriff William Snyder said Wednesday.

"The lack of a body will not be an impediment as we go forward with prosecution," Snyder said about his department's case against Williams, who has been charged with second-degree murder and child neglect.

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder speaks at a news conference on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, about charging Steven Williams with second-degree murder in the death of his ex-wife, Tricia Todd.
Williams, a 30-year-old Air Force airman stationed in North Carolina, remains in the Martin County Jail without bond.

Snyder said Williams only told detectives that Todd's remains were in a "wooded area" in Hobe Sound, although investigators spent weeks following her April 27 disappearance searching the area by foot and with cadaver dogs.

Williams' motive wasn't clear Wednesday, Snyder said, but he noted that there were reports of domestic violence involving the couple and that investigators believe there were "money issues." Williams was court-ordered to pay $1,150 per month in child support to Todd beginning in March 2015, when the couple divorced, court records show.

Todd was a 30-year-old hospice nurse raising the couple's 2-year-old daughter. Williams was the last person to see Todd alive — on April 26 — and was caught on surveillance footage driving her car after she was killed, Snyder said. Their child was "around" when Williams "caused" Todd's death.

Although there are no plans to offer Williams a plea deal in exchange for the whereabouts of Todd's body, the State Attorney's Office won't take the option off the table.

"We certainly would not do anything without speaking to family first," said David Lustgarten, the assistant state attorney overseeing the case.

The sheriff's office spent Wednesday searching a 15-square-mile area near Jonathan Dickinson State Park where they believe Todd's body to be, Snyder said. A command center was set up at Bridge and Seminole Pratt Whitney roads, near South Fork High School.

The department will request assistance from other law-enforcement agencies to search for remains, he added. Volunteers were organizing late Wednesday to resume searches in support of the sheriff's office, according to the Search for Tricia Todd Facebook page.

Todd's daughter remains in the care of her family, who declined to speak at Wednesday's news conference and referred to a statement released before Williams' arrest was announced.

"The confirmation of Tricia's death is beyond heart-breaking and indescribably painful," reads the statement, on the search group's Facebook page, created while the sheriff's office actively searched Hobe Sound for Todd or evidence in her disappearance.

Pastor Wesley Holden of Hobe Sound Bible Church of God, the spokesman for Todd's family during the investigation, said he knew Williams when he was a member of the church years ago.

"It's stunning," Holden said, declining to comment further on Williams. The family hasn't yet planned a memorial service or funeral for Todd, he added.

Outside the home in the Hobe Village community along Federal Highway that Todd shared with other family members, Joshua Todd, her younger brother, said the family was still coping with the news.

Todd said investigators informed the family Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Joshua, 24, remembered his sister's love for daughter and for others.

"She was a good of a mom as you could get," he said. "She was a real loving person. She didn't judge people. She just believed in love and not judging people. "

The evening of her disappearance, Todd left her 2-year-old daughter with Williams, whom detectives interviewed at least three times, once using a polygraph test to which Williams willingly submitted. Detectives found "gross inconsistencies" in his statements each time they spoke with him, Snyder said.

A surveillance camera at the Publix Super Market at Bridge Road and Federal Highway took Todd's pictures hours before her death, Snyder said. Deputies found her car parked near her home. The keys were in the ignition and Todd's purse was inside, but her wallet was missing.

Melissa Crable, a neighbor, said Wednesday afternoon that she was the one who found Todd's car that day. Crable said she did not know Todd well, as Todd had only recently moved into the neighborhood. Crable said she often saw Todd and her daughter playing outside.

"She was very nice, super friendly, loved her daughter" Crable said. "They would just be out front playing here with the chalk and doing some 'criss-cross applesauce,' just some games that they were playing out here. That's why I didn't think she would just disappear, especially without the child."

The sheriff's office spent two weeks "exhausting all efforts" actively searching for Todd or evidence before suspending a ground search while keeping the investigation open, said Detective Micheal Dougherty, the lead investigator. Snyder conceded that environmental conditions and animals might complicate the search.

"Time is not our friend" in the search for our body, he said.