Brianna Williams.Photo: Jacksonville County Sheriff’s Office
Brianna Williams, the Florida mother who sobbed uncontrollably when she reported her 5-year-old daughter missing in 2019, has pleaded guilty in the girl’s brutal death.
On Thursday, former Naval Petty Officer 1st Class Brianna Williams pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Taylor Rose Williams,FirstCoastNewsreported.
She had originally been charged with aggravated child abuse, two counts of child neglect, lying to police and tampering with evidence.
She had not been charged with murder before Thursday,Action News Jaxreported.
“The apartment of Brianna Williams was thoroughly searched, photographed and evidence was collected,” District Attorney Lauren Anderson said in court Thursday. “Obvious signs of neglect and abuse were observed including soiled children’s clothing, soiled carpeting, blood and along with partially empty soup and fruit cans that had a tiny hole cut in them.”
Brianna Williams.News4Jax
Williams had used her computer to search for information about starvation and malnourishment, prosecutors said in court Thursday,News4Jaxreported.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Williams had reported Taylor missing from their apartment in Jacksonville on Nov. 6, 2019, prompting authorities to launch a massive search for the little girl.
“As our community has shown over the past few days, there’s a lot of love for Taylor here. Even those who have never even met her — and we want you to know that we will do anything we can to bring her home,” former FBI Jacksonville Assistant Director Rachel Rojas s told Action News Jax at the time.
On Thursday in court, Williams appeared “emotionless,” FirstCoastNews reported.
On Nov. 6, 2019, she told the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office that she woke up and found the back door unlocked with Taylor nowhere to be found.
A week later, Taylor’s badly decomposed body was found in a rural area of Alabama stuffed in a garbage bag and buried in a shallow grave, according tothe Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Williams faces a minimum of 20 years to life in prison. Her attorney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
source: people.com
