JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man has been arrested in connection to the death of a young woman found on the banks of the Trout River last month.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says Jeffery Edwards, 19, was charged with murder, attempted murder and armed robbery in connection to the death of 18-year-old Santeria Williams.
Police have not released the cause of death.
Police say on Jan. 5, officers responded to Calloway Cove Apartments in reference to a missing adult.
Williams' mother said she had gone to wake her daughter up for school and she was nowhere to be found.
Two days after she was reported missing, a person called 911 to report what they believed to be a body discovered near the edge of Trout River in the 8000 block of Vermillion Street.
The body discovered was identified as a woman in her late teens or early 20s with a gunshot wound to her neck, police say.
She was later identified by her grandmother as Williams.
According to Duval County jail records, Edwards has been locked up since Jan. 12.
Her family told First Coast News that she was an inspiring woman that had a bright future.
"It's a pain that hurts so deep because she was so small, and for someone to do that to her... it hurts so bad, you can't even explain," says Debra Carr. Williams' grandmother.
Carr says Williams was a senior at Jean Ribault High School and was getting ready to take her senior class photos.
An opportunity that Carr says was stolen from her.
She says her granddaughter got a call from someone around midnight on Wednesday. Williams went to the door, stepped out and never came back
"Ask questions about where your child [sic] at, like where you going," she cautions.
