A Philadelphia woman is facing a murder charge after the remains of her 10-year-old foster daughter were discovered inside a car trunk.
Carprice Williams was arrested Nov. 5 in the death of Malayshia Alford, whose disappearance prompted a 10-day search involving local and federal authorities.
The 36-year-old teacher also faces six additional charges, including endangering the welfare of a child, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, according to court records reviewed by Oxygen. Court records do not indicate whether Williams has entered a plea. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“No one lost sight of who this investigation was about,” Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia FBI field office, said at a Nov. 5 press conference. “A 10-year-old girl whose life mattered, whose family deserved answers, and whose story deserved to be told.”
Alford was described as shy and intelligent. She had lived with Williams for two years, her aunt, Yolanda Brown, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Williams reported Alford missing Oct. 26, but investigators believe the girl was last seen alive four days earlier, on Oct. 22. According to the Inquirer, citing officials, Williams told police that Alford walked to the bus stop for school that morning and never came home.
Brown told the Inquirer that Williams gave her a different account, claiming Alford’s biological mother had picked up the child. Brown said she contacted her sister, who denied being with Alford.
Alford also never made it to school on Oct. 26, according to CBS News.
Authorities, assisted by the FBI, began searching for Alford. Investigators said she was last seen wearing glasses, a blue uniform, blue stockings and either Crocs or black sneakers.
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Following neighborhood canvasses, witness interviews and an effort to track down leads, surveillance video recorded in the early hours of Oct. 26 helped investigators find Alford’s body.
“There was video that shows what we believe to be her body being moved out of the home,” Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski said during the press conference. “Last night, around 11 p.m., is when law enforcement officials were able to locate her in the trunk of a vehicle in New Jersey, and it was immediately apparent that she had been there for a while.”
Toczylowski said an unidentified person provided information that helped authorities locate Alford’s remains.
A preliminary postmortem examination found that Alford died from blunt force trauma, and her death was classified as a homicide, Toczylowski said.
“We do have an indication that there were instances of abuse happening,” she said, “and that items were used to carry out that abuse.”
People in Alford’s community have placed pink and white balloons outside the home where she once lived.
“For me to come out here to something like this is very devastating,” neighbor Tyeisha Stots told CBS News. “I was sad last night. I couldn’t sleep.”
Valerie Brown, whose son attended camp with Alford, said, “I’m feeling hurt. I’m feeling — my spirit is heavy. I have a lot of knots in my stomach and, you know, it just hits very close to home for me.”
Williams was denied bail and is scheduled to return to Philadelphia Municipal Court on Nov. 23.