JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Documents obtained Monday by News4Jax reveal new details in the case of Brianna Williams, the Naval petty officer whose 5-year-old daughter’s remains were found in Alabama last year.
News4Jax looked through the forensic report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and about 30 pages of supplemental reports from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in reference to Williams’ case. It’s important to note that the name Taylor, which is the name of Williams’ daughter, never appears in the reports. The word “victim” appears frequently and Taylor is the only known victim in this case. In some portions of the documents, the name has been completely redacted.
According to the report, the Sheriff’s Office found blood on the closet door inside Williams’ Southside Jacksonville apartment. A partial DNA profile “consistent with a female individual” was obtained from the sample.
The FDLE DNA analysis found a partial and a complete DNA profile. The comparison DNA was extracted from a rib bone. Both analyses found overwhelming odds that DNA profile was likely to have come from the owner of the rib bone than anyone else.
In January this year, a witness told detectives about a text she received from Williams -- four months before Taylor disappeared -- that stated (name redacted) had “turned into a nightmare,” according to a police report. It stated that Williams would text about how (name redacted) would sneak food and leave it under her bed.
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A witness told police Williams would have men over “so she could be wild and dangerous,” and the witness said Williams would sometimes stay out all night. The detective asked the witness what she believed happened to (name redacted). The witness told police, the report said, that she thinks Williams “starved her, locking her in the room. Not feeding her. Starved her to death.”
According to the report, Williams told a friend that she was having trouble sleeping and issues with depression.
Additionally, the report shows the Sheriff’s Office conducted a covert operation with the Navy to arrest Williams. During her arrest, police said she attempted suicide, overdosing on Unisom, Dramamine and laundry detergent.
Williams in April pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated child abuse, among other charges. She has not been charged with anything connected to Taylor’s death, whose body was recovered in Alabama near Williams’ family home less than a week after she was reported missing.
Court documents suggest that Brianna Williams tortured, maliciously punished or caged Taylor sometime between the last time the girl was seen alive in April and Nov. 6 -- when Williams reported her missing.
Prosecutors have charged Williams with tampering with evidence because investigators believe she dumped Taylor’s remains in Alabama before saying the girl had disappeared.
The Department of Children and Families had no contact with Brianna Williams or Taylor and the Department of Children and Families said the family was not involved in any prior abuse complaints before Taylor was reported missing.