Authorities in Alabama say human remains found Nov. 12 in rural Alabama have been positively identified as those of missing 5-year-old Taylor Rose Williams of Jacksonville, Florida.
»PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Human remains found during search for missing Jacksonville girl; mother arrested
Following confirmation of the child’s death, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the discovery and canceled the Nov. 6 Amber Alert that was issued to find her.
The girl’s mother, Brianna Williams, 27, is being held at the Duval County Jail on charges of felony child neglect and giving false information to police. Her bail has been set at $1.1 million.
She has not been charged in the girl’s death.
A tip led members of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department's Urban Search and Rescue team to Demopolis, Alabama, on Nov. 11 to continue the search for Taylor near the town where Brianna Williams grew up. She still has friends in the area, according to reports.
The remains were found in a remote area of Marengo County, near Demopolis.
As police announced the grisly discovery, Brianna Williams tried to kill herself by overdose and had to spend about nine days in a Jacksonville hospital before being transferred to jail, authorities said.
Authorities first became suspicious of Williams when she stopped cooperating with the investigation after detectives pointed out inconsistencies in her story, said Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams.
Brianna Williams, a petty officer at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, initially reported Taylor missing Nov. 6. She told police she put Taylor to bed about midnight the night before she vanished. By the time she checked the child’s bedroom about 7:20 a.m. Nov. 6, the girl was already missing, she said. The back door to the home had been unlocked, she said.
Records show Brianna Williams called the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office minutes later, at 7:22 a.m.
Later, a neighbor told investigators that Taylor was “alone and often wandering” around the apartment complex where she lived with her mother.
The neighbor told investigators he first spotted Taylor alone, wearing pink and purple pajamas and carrying a doll, on April 17. The child told him she was “looking for my momma.” He walked her to her empty apartment and instructed her to lock the door before he left her, according to an arrest warrant.
»PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Missing girl last seen in May: alone, wandering, 'looking for my momma'
The neighbor said he continued to see Taylor Williams alone through the apartment’s sliding glass door at least every other day and that she would wave to him from inside her apartment. She was always wearing the same pajamas. He said he saw her wandering outside two times in May and that he saw her with her mother May 21. That was the day he last saw the child, the report said.
When the neighbor questioned Brianna Williams about the child’s whereabouts, she told him the girl was in Alabama with her grandparents, the report said.
But her mother also denied having the girl. Both maternal and paternal grandparents told investigators the last time they’d seen Taylor was more than a year ago.
Police have not revealed how the girl died.
— Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report. Please return to AJC.com for updates.
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