One week after 5-year-old Taylor Williams was reported missing in Jacksonville, new details are coming to light regarding what authorities say are her mother’s “numerous false statements” to investigators.
Human remains discovered in the Alabama woods may belong to Taylor, who was reported missing by her mom on Nov. 6, but the identity of the remains has not been determined, police said on Tuesday.
Taylor’s mother, Brianna Williams, has been arrested on charges of child neglect and giving false information to investigators, the sheriff said Tuesday.
Bob Self/The Florida Times-Union via AP
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Williams gave “numerous false statements” to authorities about her daughter’s whereabouts, including saying that on Oct. 31 she drove to Tuscaloosa to pick Taylor up from her mother. Williams said her mom took care of the little girl for that month, the affidavit said.
However, Williams’ mother denied that claim and said she last saw Taylor in January, according to the police affidavit.
Jacksonville Sheriffs Office
When authorities asked Williams about child care over the last few months, she allegedly told them that Taylor had been at day care at the Naval Airstation in Jacksonville, but she had to take the little girl out of that facility when her work schedule changed, the arrest warrant affidavit said.
Williams told investigators she then turned to driving the 5-year-old back and forth to Alabama where her mother cared for her, the document said.
However, records show Taylor’s last day going to day care at the Naval station was April 29, according to the document. Taylor had attended the Jacksonville day care facility “Kinder Garden” until April 10, the document said.
Investigators also spoke with a former neighbor of Williams who reported seeing Taylor “alone and wandering the apartment complex on more than one occasion,” according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
One day in April the neighbor asked Taylor what she was doing and the little girl replied, “Looking for my momma,” the document said.
The neighbor saw Taylor home alone “at least every other day,” “always wearing the same pajamas and holding the same doll,” the document said. The neighbor told authorities that Williams’ car was not in the apartment parking lot during those times, the arrest warrant affidavit said.
That neighbor said the last time he saw Williams and Taylor together was May 21, 2019, the document said. After that occasion, when the neighbor would ask Williams where Taylor was, she’d say she was in Alabama with her grandparents, the arrest warrant affidavit said.
The neighbor saw Williams moving the week of Oct. 26, the arrest warrant affidavit said.
On Nov. 6, Williams called the sheriff’s office to report Taylor missing. She said that morning when she woke up, she saw the back door was unlocked and Taylor was gone, court documents said.
Williams has not entered a plea to the charges against her and has not yet been assigned a public defender.
