JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Thousands of photographs, new investigative documents and police interviews with the woman charged in the death of her 5-year-old daughter Taylor Williams were released Thursday.
Former Jacksonville Navy petty officer Brianna Williams is in jail, accused of aggravated child abuse, lying to police and tampering with evidence. Officials contend she tortured, maliciously punished or caged Taylor sometime between the last time the girl was seen alive in April and when Brianna Williams reported the girl missing in November.
She has not been charged in the girl's death.
The new photographs include the search scene in Demopolis, Alabama, where police found the girl's remains. They also include pictures of a filthy closet in Williams’ apartment. Law enforcement sources tell First Coast News investigators to believe the girl was kept in a closet for extended periods and fed from soup cans with holes punched in them.
Part of the document release is an 11-hour recording from Nov. 6, the morning Brianna Williams reported her daughter missing.
For nearly an hour, she parries with investigators who question her about her recent, sudden move to a new apartment, her claim that she hired a Craigslist babysitter to care for her child, and her work schedule at NAS Jax.
But about 40 minutes in, investigators ramp up their questioning, suggesting her story doesn’t hold together. They tell her Williams’ own mother disputed caring for the child, telling detectives she hadn’t seen the child since January 2019.
Williams responds, “I’m over this. My momma would not say that.” She adds, “I just want my baby home. …. This has gone too far."
“So you don’t want to answer any questions as to the whereabouts of your daughter?” an investigator presses.
“I don’t know where she is,” Williams says. “I have told you everything I know.”
Investigators leave, and for most of the next 10 hours, she remains in the room alone.
The On Your Side team is going through the newly released documents and will update this developing story.