69º

WEATHER ALERT

TAYLOR WILLIAMS

Aggressive seaweed smothers one of world's most remote reefs

Researchers say the recently discovered species of seaweed is killing large patches of coral on once-pristine reefs and is rapidly spreading across one of the most remote and protected ocean environments on earth. A study from the University of Hawaii and others says the seaweed is spreading more rapidly than anything they've seen in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a nature reserve that stretches more than 1,300 miles north of the main Hawaiian Islands. A study from the University of Hawaii and others says the seaweed is spreading more rapidly than anything they've seen in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a nature reserve that stretches more than 1,300 miles north of the main Hawaiian Islands. Scientists say seaweed blooms happen worldwide and can be seasonal, but this does not appear to be the case. "If something like this got back to Waikiki or anywhere in the main Hawaiian Islands it would be an ecological disaster, but also an economic disaster," Kosaki said.

Photos depict squalor inside home of 5-year-old Taylor Williams

Photos released from State Attorney's Office in investigation of 5-year-old Taylor Williams. The 5-year-old girls remains were found in Alabama, and the cause of her death is undetermined. Williams is charged with aggravated child abuse, tampering with evidence, child neglect and lying to police in connection with Taylors disappearance. (Photos in gallery above)RELATED: Forensic report sheds new light on arrest of Taylor Williams motherPhotos also show the inside of Brianna Williams Southside apartment, as crime scene detectives cased it for clues after she reported her daughter missing. Also, photos show the scene in Alabama, where police discovered Taylors remains on Nov. 11, buried in a shallow grave.

Forensic report sheds new light on arrest of Taylor Williams’ mother

It’s important to note that the name Taylor, which is the name of Williams’ daughter, never appears in the reports. According to the report, the Sheriff’s Office found blood on the closet door inside Williams’ Southside Jacksonville apartment. The witness told police, the report said, that she thinks Williams “starved her, locking her in the room. Starved her to death.”According to the report, Williams told a friend that she was having trouble sleeping and issues with depression. 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.

Forensic report released last week could be ‘turning point’ in Brianna Williams case

Last week, the State Attorney’s Office has provided Williams’ defense lawyer with more discovery material in the case, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement forensic report. The report is expected to reveal whether or not bloodstains found at Williams’ Southside apartment were from Taylor. It was the first time Brianna Williams had been seen publicly in almost two months. I think this is a very defining moment in this case,” Peoples-Waters said. Peoples-Waters is not connected with Williams’ case but has worked in criminal law for over 20 years.

Brianna Williams pleads not guilty to charges connected with 5-year-old daughter’s disappearance

Police said Brianna Williams, 27, called police saying she put her daughter to bed back in November, then awoke to find her gone the next morning. Police utilized multiple resources searching for the little girl. It was revealed a short time later that the last time anyone could account for the little girl was months earlier, in May. The search for Taylor eventually led investigators to Alabama, where Brianna Williams grew up. Remains found in Alabama have been identified as those of Taylor Rose Williams (WJXT)Brianna Williams attempted suicide by overdose shortly after her daughter’s remains were found.

Remains found in Alabama identified as 5-year-old Taylor Williams

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Human remains found earlier this month in a wooded area of western Alabama were identified as those of 5-year-old Taylor Rose Williams, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced Monday. Waters said at a news conference Monday afternoon that DNA analysis confirmed the identity of the remains. The search later expanded to rural Alabama, where investigators focused on a 25-mile radius stretching from Demopolis, where Williams has friends, to her hometown of Linden. After the remains were found, Williams was hospitalized after ingesting an unknown substance. Williams remains in the Duval County jail on $1.1 million bond.

2 weeks later, few answers in Taylor Williams’ disappearance

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s been a week since Jacksonville’s Sheriff Mike Williams announced remains were found near Demopolis, Alabama. While investigators believe the remains are likely those of missing Jacksonville 5-year-old Taylor Rose Williams, there’s still no confirmation. I know they’re highly skilled. Smith has followed the Taylor Williams case closely and told News4Jax that finding out how she died will be a long process that requires patience. Her mother, Brianna Williams, an active-duty sailor based at NAS Jacksonville, stopped cooperating with investigators one day after reporting her daughter missing, according to Sheriff Williams.

Detectives gather evidence in Alabama where remains found in search for 5-year-old

A JSO crime scene unit van and detectives from several other agencies made their way Thursday morning to the scene in Marengo County. Police say human remains were found here during the search for 5 yr old Taylor Williams. Investigators are seen in a wooded area of Alabama where human remains were found in the search for Taylor Rose Williams. The Sheriff’s Office said Brianna Williams reported her daughter missing on Nov. 6 from a home on Ivy Street in the city’s Brentwood area. Sheriff Williams said Brianna Williams stopped cooperating Nov. 7.

Taylor Williams’ great aunt: ‘It’s like my heart has just been ripped out’

On Tuesday, Taylor's great aunt and great uncle said they were in shock after learning the girl's mother was named a person of interest in the case. Sheila Williams, another great aunt of Taylor's, fought to hold back tears as she talked about the missing girl on Wednesday. "It's like my heart has just been ripped out," Shelia Williams said. Shelia Williams said she hasn't seen Brianna or Taylor Williams in three years. When asked if there was anything she'd like to say to Taylor, Shelia Williams responded:"You're loved and your mama loves you."

Did police suspect Brianna Williams all along?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Was Taylor Williams' mother, Brianna Williams, the prime suspect in her daughters disappearance from the very start? She believes that after a massive search of both Brianna Williams' Brentwood home and a Southside apartment complex where the family used to live when the 5-year-old was reported missing at 7:22 a.m. Nov. 6, its likely police had their attention focused squarely on Taylor's mother. Chrabot said holes in Brianna Williams story were likely immediately apparent. Chrabot said it became clear to her during Sheriff Mike Williams' first news conference on the disappearance that Brianna Williams wasnt telling the truth. Chrabot said that since Brianna Williams is currently charged with child neglect and giving police false information, it may be some time before they file other charges.

Taylor's case rekindles haunting memories for officer who found Lonzie, Cherish

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - For many, the disappearance of 5-year-old Taylor Williams is a reminder of other Amber Alerts in the Northeast Florida area. On Tuesday, human remains were found in Alabama during the search for Taylor. On the same day, sources confirmed Brianna Williams, Taylor's mother, who Sheriff Williams named a person of interest in the child's disappearance, was flown to a Jacksonville hospital due to a medical emergency. The circumstances of Taylor's disappearance hit close to home for Charlie Wilkie, a retired officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, who discovered Lonzie's remains and the body of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle. Now working for another agency, he's watched the investigation into Taylor's disappearance closely, telling News4Jax its similar to Lonzie's case.

FDLE changes Florida Amber Alert, Missing Child Alert criteria

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Friday announced that it's updated the criteria for the state's Amber Alert and Missing Child Alerts. The updated criteria includes what's called an Enhanced Missing Child Alert, which the FDLE said can be used in cases in which it appears a child was not abducted, but law enforcement officials believe the child is in imminent danger. The new alert allows for a cellphone emergency alert in a targeted area. DETAILS: Updated criteria for Amber Alert, Missing Child AlertREAD: What qualifies for an Amber Alert? The changes were announced about two days after an Amber Alert was issued for a missing Jacksonville girl.

Trolls thought she was the mother of missing Jacksonville girl. They were wrong

Briana Williams was mistaken for the mother of a 5-year-old girl who went missing in Jacksonville on Wednesday. At first Briana Williams, a former Jacksonville resident now living in Ohio, thought the messages were spam. People calling me the b' word, saying that I should hang myself if something happens to this little girl. "People are seeing, Oh, she was just in Jacksonville and all of a sudden when she goes back to Ohio this little girl is missing and her daughter looks like this little girl.'" Briana Williams said that her heart and prayers go out to Taylor Williams, and she hopes they find her safe and well.