An arrest warrant obtained by First Coast News has revealed graphic details in the case of missing 5-year-old Taylor Williams and her mother's connection to her disappearance.
Brianna Williams, 27, was arrested Tuesday and charged with child neglect and giving false information to investigators, according to Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams. However, she was taken to the hospital instead of jail after a suicide attempt left her in serious condition.
According to the warrant released by the State Attorney's Office Wednesday, a neighbor found the girl "alone and wandering" their apartment complex in pink and purple pajamas and holding a doll on April 17. The witness said he called out to the girl and asked what she was doing, and she replied "Looking for my momma."
When the witness walked the girl back to her apartment, it was "cluttered with trash bags and boxes stacked on top of each other," according to the report. He said he made sure the door to the apartment was locked after leaving the girl there.
The witness said he could see the girl through the sliding glass door of the apartment and said she was alone "at least every other day," according to the report, always wearing the same pajamas and holding the same doll. He said the girl would wave to him.
He described her as wearing the same pajamas she was reported wearing in the Amber Alert when she went missing.
The neighbor said he had not seen any boyfriends or visitors to the apartment. He did not see the girl at all the week Brianna Williams moved out.
The warrant also cited Brianna Williams for "numerous false statements" to investigators. Specifically, the report says she lied and said the child had been attending daycare at NAS Jacksonville. Records show the last day the girl attended the daycare there was April 29, 2019.
Williams also told investigators that Taylor had been at her mother's house in Tuscaloosa, Alabama throughout the month of October, and that she'd picked the girl up on Halloween.
Brianna Williams' mom denied having the girl in October. Both maternal and paternal grandparents told investigators the last time they'd seen the girl was more than a year ago.
Williams' bond was set at just over $1 million, according to her booking information.
Read the arrest warrant below:
She was scheduled to have her first appearance at 1 p.m. Wednesday, but Brianna Williams remains at UF Health following an apparent overdose. Sources said police were on their way to arrest Williams when she ingested a substance of some kind.
Brianna Williams' family and law enforcement officials had differing accounts of her condition on Tuesday night. Relatives say she is on life support, while investigators tell First Coast News she is in a medically-induced coma.
According to a medical expert, those conditions can overlap. Life support typically involves using a ventilator, which requires heavy sedation or a medically induced coma.
Earlier Tuesday, search teams from multiple agencies found human remains between the cities of Linden and Demopolis, Alabama where the search for Taylor Williams expanded. Officials haven't identified the body but believe it to be the missing 5-year-old.
