Carprice Williams Charged With Murder in the Death of Malayshia Alford, Her 10-Year-Old Foster Daughter

A Philadelphia foster mother has been charged with murder in the death of Malayshia Alford, the 10-year-old girl who lived in her West Philadelphia home. Malayshia’s body was found late on November 4 in the trunk of a car in Lindenwold, New Jersey, nine days after she was reported missing and nearly two weeks after investigators believe she was last seen alive.

District Attorney Larry Krasner announced the charges against Carprice Williams, 36, at a news conference on November 5, standing with Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, FBI officials and members of Malayshia’s family. Williams is charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal use of a communication facility, possession of an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.

“We do have an indication that there were instances of abuse happening, and that items were used to carry out that abuse,” Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski told reporters at the news conference, in remarks reported by CNN and USA TODAY.

Williams was arraigned early on November 6 and ordered held without bail at the Philadelphia Detention Center, according to CNN. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 23. She had no criminal record, Krasner said. The charges are allegations. Williams is presumed innocent, and the Defender Association of Philadelphia, which represents her, declined to comment, CNN and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Last seen alive on October 22

Malayshia was a student at Robert E. Lamberton School, the School District of Philadelphia said. Investigators believe she was last seen alive on October 22 at the home on the 500 block of North Simpson Street where she lived with Williams, and she did not attend school on October 23, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia.

Williams reported Malayshia missing on October 26. She told police the girl had not come home from school and was not answering her phone, prosecutors said at the news conference, according to CNN. Philadelphia police, the FBI and neighbors searched for her, and Pennsylvania State Police issued a Missing Endangered Person Advisory.

The break came on November 4, when investigators recovered surveillance video from 1:53 a.m. on October 26. The video showed what appeared to be a body being carried out of the home in a bag and placed in a vehicle, Toczylowski said. Krasner said the person seen removing the body was not Williams, according to USA TODAY. The video led investigators to a vehicle and to a person connected with it, and that person led them to a second car at the Stonington Court Apartments in Lindenwold, about 20 miles from the West Philadelphia home. The Lindenwold car belonged to a relative of Williams, a law enforcement source told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Investigators opened the trunk at about 11 p.m. on November 4 and found Malayshia’s body still inside the bag, the Courier-Post reported. “It was immediately apparent that she had been there for a while,” Toczylowski said, according to the Courier-Post. The Gloucester-Camden-Salem Counties Medical Examiner’s Office determined that she died of blunt force trauma and ruled her death a homicide, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

What the criminal complaint alleges

NBC10 Philadelphia, which reviewed the police arrest report, reported that two children who had visited the home told investigators they had seen Williams hit Malayshia with a cord and punish her by withholding food and water. The complaint also alleges Malayshia was made to climb stairs while wearing a weighted vest, according to NBC10.

Williams told investigators that Malayshia fell down the stairs on October 24 and died two days later, according to the arrest report as reported by NBC10. Police allege that on October 26, Williams used Malayshia’s phone to send a text message to her own phone, written to look as if the girl had sent it, saying her biological family did not want her adopted. None of these allegations has been tested in court.

A placement now under subpoena

Malayshia was in the custody of Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services. She received foster care services through Pennsylvania Mentor, with case management from Catholic Community Services, which operates as Community Umbrella Agency 4 under contract with the city, the department said.

“We are incredibly saddened to learn of the death of Malayshia Alford. We offer our sincere condolences to the family on this tragic loss,” DHS Commissioner Kimberly Ali said in a statement reported by CNN. A Pennsylvania Mentor spokesperson said the organization is cooperating with law enforcement and is heartbroken over the girl’s death.

Philadelphia police and the District Attorney’s Office plan to subpoena DHS records concerning Malayshia’s placement, CBS News Philadelphia reported. Williams worked as a teacher at Lewis Cassidy Elementary School in the School District of Philadelphia, according to NBC10 and CBS News Philadelphia.

The 2021 case

Malayshia was not the first child placed in Williams’ home to be seriously hurt, according to court records obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer. In June 2020, two sisters were placed with Williams at her home on North Simpson Street. In January 2021, Williams brought the younger sister, age 4, to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and said she had found the child collapsed upstairs after hearing a loud noise, according to a civil complaint cited by the Inquirer. The girl later told investigators that Williams had grabbed her by her braids and repeatedly slammed her head against the kitchen floor, the complaint says.

The state Department of Human Services substantiated abuse against both sisters, and a review panel of city and state officials recommended that Williams “never be used as a foster parent for other children in the future,” according to the complaint cited by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The agency overseeing the home closed it. Williams appealed the abuse finding, and a state official told the Inquirer the report was later removed from her record.

The 2021 case became a civil lawsuit in 2024, filed by the law firm Kline & Specter against Tabor Children’s Services, a case-management agency then under contract with the city. The suit settled this year for $2 million, according to the Inquirer. Malayshia was the only foster child in Williams’ home when she died; she lived there with Williams’ 4-year-old biological son, a law enforcement source told the Inquirer. Nadeem Bezar, the Kline & Specter attorney now representing Malayshia’s estate, told the Inquirer the placement should never have happened. He also said DHS had previously found that Malayshia was abused in a different foster home, which is why she had been moved into Williams’ care.

“She deserved safety”

At the November 5 news conference, Commissioner Bethel said Malayshia “deserved safety. She deserved to be loved. She deserved a chance to grow up,” according to CNN. Mayor Cherelle Parker said in a statement, “As a mother, this has shaken me to my core,” and said police, prosecutors and the FBI would work to uncover the facts and seek justice, according to CNN and USA TODAY.

Malayshia’s aunt Marketa Brown thanked the community at the news conference for the prayers and the hours spent searching. Nafis Horne, the brother of Malayshia’s biological father, Nazir Alford, asked people to keep the family in their prayers. Her father had been working to regain custody of her, relatives told 6abc. Students and teachers at Lamberton made posters in her memory, USA TODAY reported, and West Philadelphia held a vigil for her on Sunday, according to FOX 29.

Wayne Jacobs, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Philadelphia, described an around-the-clock effort built on witness interviews and digital evidence. Prosecutors say the investigation is still active, and officials have asked anyone with information to call or text Philadelphia police at 215-686-TIPS (8477). Williams’ preliminary hearing is set for November 23 in Philadelphia Municipal Court.