Skip to main content
Clear icon
57º

Timeline: Key events in the search for missing Jacksonville girl

5-year-old Taylor Rose Williams was first reported missing Nov. 6

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville community and law enforcement has been desperately searching for Taylor Rose Williams since she was first reported missing on the morning of Nov. 6. News4Jax takes a look back at a timeline of significant events that have happened so far.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 7:22 a.m.

Navy petty officer Brianna Williams calls the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to report her daughter Taylor Rose Williams missing.

Williams tells officers she saw her daughter in bed around midnight Wednesday in their home on Ivy Street in the Brentwood neighborhood of Jacksonville, but when she woke the next morning, Taylor was gone and the back door of the home was unlocked.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 9:21 a.m.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement issues a missing child alert.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 10 a.m.

Volunteers swarm the area searching for Taylor. They help spread the word with flyers, search bushes and abandoned homes, scour the woods and drive through the streets shouting her name.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.

"It's very urgent that we find her as quickly as possible," JSO Chief of Investigations T.K. Waters says at a news briefing. "We'll work until we can't work anymore."

Authorities say there was no sign of foul play in the house where Taylor was reported missing and everything in the house looked normal.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 11:24 a.m.

Amber Alert issued for Taylor. She is described as 3 feet tall, weighing 50 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. She was last seen wearing a purple shirt and pink pajama pants when she went to bed. Taylor is believed to be in danger.

RELATED: Remains found in Alabama identified as 5-year-old Taylor Williams | Search for Taylor Rose Williams centers around wooded area in Alabama | Navy mom now person of interest in disappearance of 5-year-old girl | Missing girl’s mother received 9 awards in 7 years in Navy | Sheriff: Taylor Rose Williams’ mother has stopped cooperating | What we know about missing 5-year-old’s family | Volunteers scour neighborhood after 5-year-old disappears | Police also search Southside complex | Ken Jefferson: ‘All hands are on deck to find this little girl’ | Woman says she helped missing girl’s mother move, never saw child | 5-year-old’s disappearance a chilling reminder of past cases | What qualifies for an Amber Alert? GALLERIES: Police swarm neighborhood | Hundreds join search | Taylor Rose Williams

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.

New4Jax confirms dozens of JSO officers are also searching the Southside Villas apartment complex on Southside Boulevard where the family of Taylor lived before moving to Brentwood just days before she was reported missing.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 2:30 p.m.

Tiffani Nicole tells News4Jax she was hired by Brianna Williams, Taylor's mother, to help Williams move. She said she and her fiancé packed up several items in the Southside apartment on Sunday afternoon during a move to the Ivy Road address where Taylor was reportedly last seen.

According to Nicole, the child's mother was behaving strangely, and she never saw Taylor.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 3 p.m.

JSO dive team arrives at the apartment complex on the Southside. Soon after, officers could be seen searching trash from a dumpster taken from the complex.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 4:50 p.m.

Tow truck removes a car from the family's home in Brentwood.

Nov. 6, Wednesday, 5:15 p.m.

"We are very concerned, but we are going to search, and we're going to continue to search throughout the night," Waters says.

Nov. 7, Thursday, 7 a.m.

The home where Taylor was reportedly last seen around midnight Tuesday remained taped off Thursday morning as dozens of officers continued a massive search for the missing child.

Nov. 7, Thursday, 10 a.m.

A large JSO presence continues to search the Southside apartment complex.

No description found

Nov. 7, Thursday, 12:18 a.m.

Still, no reported sightings of Taylor.

Nov. 7, Thursday, 3:44 p.m.

News4Jax learns from two sources that a cadaver dog alerted on the car of Brianna Williams.

Nov. 7, Thursday, 4 p.m.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams holds a press conference to announce that Taylor Rose Williams' mother stopped cooperating with investigators. Williams says Brianna Williams is not in custody or under arrest, but she stopped answering questions when detectives pointed out inconsistencies with her story.

Williams says it's unclear the last time anyone other than the mother has seen Taylor Williams alive and asked anyone who has seen Brianna Williams and her daughter together in the last six months to call 904-630-0500.

"My hope is that we find her alive," Williams said.

Nov. 7, Thursday, 4:15 p.m.

Maurice Tate, the father of Taylor Williams who lives in Alabama, tells News4Jax it had "been a while" since he had last seen Taylor. Tate also said a detective with JSO was on their way to talk with him. A relative later indicated it had been at least two years since Tate had seen the child.

Nov. 7, Thursday, 5 p.m.

JSO takes down the command center in the Brentwood neighborhood as the search continues but scales back.

Nov. 8, Friday, 7:30 a.m.

The investigation enters hour 49 and the energy shifts as the community and officers continue to search.

Nov. 8, Friday, 5:25 p.m.

A Navy spokesman said Brianna Williams returned to work after spending time with police the day she reported Taylor missing. News4Jax also learned that Williams is a former valedictorian at her high school in Alabama, and she received nine awards for her Naval service. She was deployed overseas twice and her awards range from a Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal to a National Defense Service Medal.

Nov. 11, Monday, 1:40 p.m.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams announces that Brianna Williams is now a person of interest in her daughter's disappearance.

Sheriff Williams asks anyone who saw Taylor and her mother together between Jacksonville and Alabama in the last two weeks to call the Sheriff's Office with that information. The number is 904-630-0500.

Williams says Brianna Williams was believed to have been driving her black 2017 Honda Accord, which has tinted windows and black rims.

No description found

Nov. 11, Monday, 2 p.m.

Dozens of members of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department's Urban Search and Rescue team travel to Demopolis, Ala., to continue searching for Taylor.

Nov. 12, Tuesday, 9 a.m.

Search teams, with the assistance of K-9s and some high-tech tools, plan to search a 25-mile radius around Demopolis, where Brianna Williams has friends, and her hometown of Linden, Ala.

News4Jax was told the search Tuesday morning was concentrated on a heavily wooded area close to Highway 28 and Marengo County Road 19, near railroad tracks.

No description found

Nov. 12, Tuesday, 12:58 p.m.

Search teams uncover human remains in a wooded area in Alabama on Tuesday during the search for missing Taylor Rose Williams, law enforcement confirmed. Victim identification is pending.

WATCH: Human remains found in search for Taylor Rose Williams

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office will await identification of the remains as forensics tests are completed, according to the Demopolis Police Department. As of Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement said it plans to secure and process the evidence at the scene where the remains were found.

Nov. 12, Tuesday, 3 p.m.

Two sources confirm to News4Jax that Brianna Williams was from NAS Jax to UF Health on Tuesday afternoon following an apparent overdose.

Nov. 12, Tuesday, 5:30 p.m

Sheriff Williams announces during a press conference Brianna Williams has been arrested on charges of child neglect and giving false information to investigators in the search for her daughter. Williams was absentee booked at a local hospital after being admitted for an apparent overdose, Williams said.

State Attorney Melissa Nelson said during the press conference the remains found in Alabama are believed to be that of Taylor Rose Williams.

Nov. 12, Tuesday, 5:47 p.m.

Navy official says Brianna Williams remains administratively assigned to the Tactical Operations Center.

"The Navy is fully cooperating with civilian authorities as they continue to investigate," the official said.

Nov. 13, Wednesday, 7:30 a.m.

A first appearance for Brianna Williams has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday. As of 7:30 a.m., she was not yet listed as being physically in the jail, but UF Health officials said that she was "no longer in (their) system."

Duval County jail records show Brianna Williams was booked in absentia on two counts of child neglect and giving false information to law enforcement during an investigation, and the three charges carry a total bond of $1.1 million.

Nov. 25, Monday, 2 p.m.

JSO Chief of Investigations T.K. Waters says human remains found in a wooded area of western Alabama were identified through DNA analysis as those of 5-year-old Taylor Rose Williams. Waters didn’t say how investigators were led to the remains. He also did not release the cause of death.

Brianna Williams, who is considered a person of interest in the case, remains in the Duval County jail on $1.1 million bond and is due in court Dec. 4 for arraignment on charges of child neglect and giving false information to law enforcement.

Nov. 25, Monday, 4:05 p.m.

Three sources tell New4Jax the remains of Taylor Rose Williams were bones when they were discovered by investigators Nov. 12, suggesting the child’s body had been in the wooded area for an extended period of time.