Background: The home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the victim was last seen (WTXF/YouTube). Inset top: Malayshia Alford (Philadelphia Police Department). Inset bottom: Carprice Williams before the discovery of Malayshia's body (WCAU/YouTube).
A woman in Pennsylvania has been arrested after a dayslong search for her foster daughter ended when the child's body was found in the trunk of a vehicle.
Carprice Williams, 36, is charged with murder in the death of 10-year-old Malayshia Alford, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime. The defendant also stands charged with endangering the welfare of a child, criminal use of a communication facility, possession of an instrument of crime with intent, abuse of a corpse, recklessly endangering another person and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Malayshia was last seen alive at her home on the 500 block of North Simpson Street in Philadelphia on Oct. 22, Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski said Thursday at a press conference streamed by local ABC affiliate WPVI. She lived there with her foster mother, Williams.
"We believe she remained there until she was removed from the home," the ADA added.
On Oct. 26, the girl was reported missing. The Philadelphia Police Department said Malayshia, who wears glasses, "was last seen wearing a blue uniform polo or button-up shirt, blue skirt, blue pullover, blue stockings and either Crocs or black sneakers."
Williams had allegedly told relatives that Malayshia had gone to her biological mother's home, but family members noted that the biological mother did not have visitation rights and Malayshia wasn't there, regional CBS affiliate KYW reported.
As part of their investigation, officers saw a video that showed "what we believe to be her body being moved out of the home" in a bag. That video also showed a vehicle, as well as "a person that [investigators] wanted to speak to related to that vehicle."
As the search went on, Williams and a man at her home could allegedly be seen — in footage captured by area NBC affiliate WCAU — walking from the home, with Williams attempting to cover her face and the man carrying multiple items. This was before the defendant or anyone else was announced as a suspect.
Police detectives, as well as the FBI, spoke with the unidentified person captured on the video and were led to an area in New Jersey where they found the vehicle. Inside the trunk of the vehicle was Malayshia's body.
"It was immediately apparent that she had been there for a while," Toczylowski said. The child's body was taken to the county medical examiner's office, where a preliminary postmortem examination determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Toczylowski noted that authorities "have an indication that there were instances of abuse happening and that items were used to carry out that abuse." District Attorney Larry Krasner added that Malayshia's body showed bruising and scarring that suggested a pattern, per Daily Voice.
Williams was arrested and scheduled to have a preliminary arraignment on Friday. She is due to return to court on Nov. 23 for a preliminary hearing.