A Pennsylvania teacher accused of murdering her foster daughter and leaving the child’s body in a car trunk had allegedly been involved in an earlier case in which another foster child nearly died, court records show.
Carprice Williams, 34, was charged Thursday in the death of 10-year-old Jalayshia “Malayshia” Allford, who had been living in Williams’ West Philadelphia home as a foster child since last summer.
The arrest followed the discovery of the girl’s body inside a vehicle at a New Jersey apartment complex, ending a 10-day search for the missing child.
Newly reported court documents obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer also describe previous allegations of abuse involving children placed in Williams’ care, including a four-year-old girl and her older sister.
According to the complaint, city and state officials ultimately advised that Williams “never be used as a foster parent for other children in the future.”
“We are trying to understand how this could have happened,” Nadeem Bezar, an attorney with Kline & Specter, the firm representing Malayshia’s estate, told The Inquirer.
The earlier allegations were outlined in a 2024 lawsuit filed by Bezar’s firm against Tabor Children’s Services, a social services provider contracted by the city. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the younger child.
Bezar confirmed that the sisters were placed with Williams at her home on 547 North Simpson Street in June 2020, according to the outlet.
Philadelphia teacher Carprice Williams, 34, was charged Thursday with the murder of 10-year-old Jalayshia “Malayshia” Allford, who had lived in her West Philadelphia home as a foster child since last summer
Officials said Malayshia’s cause of death was believed to be blunt-force trauma and ruled the death a homicide. They added that it was “immediately apparent that she had been there for awhile”
Several months later, in January 2021, Williams took the four-year-old to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She reportedly told authorities that she had heard a loud noise and then found the child collapsed on an upstairs floor, according to the court filing.
Doctors treating the girl documented signs of malnutrition, a traumatic brain injury, facial abrasions and marks that appeared consistent with being struck by an object.
A physician later described the incident as a “near fatality,” saying the child had nearly died from bleeding in the brain. The case prompted investigations by both city and state officials.
The girl later told investigators that Williams had pulled her by her braids and repeatedly slammed her head against the kitchen floor, according to the complaint cited by The Inquirer.
Williams allegedly then struck her with a belt and slapped her face until her mouth began to bleed.
The lawsuit further alleged that the girl was sometimes made to hold a squat against a wall for long periods. Williams also reportedly tried to keep the older sister quiet so she would not reveal the alleged abuse.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services later substantiated abuse allegations involving both children and recommended that Williams never be permitted to foster children again.
Despite that recommendation, Malayshia was placed in Williams’ home roughly a year after the lawsuit was filed, raising questions about the safeguards used by Philadelphia’s child welfare system.
The arrest followed the discovery of the girl’s body inside a car trunk at a New Jersey apartment complex (pictured), bringing a grim conclusion to a 10-day search
“If the panel walked away with a recommendation that she should never be a foster parent, it’s hard to understand how she then was a foster parent again,” Cathleen Palm, head of the advocacy group Center for Children’s Justice, told the outlet.
Malayshia was the only foster child living in Williams’ home, alongside Williams’ four-year-old biological son, a law enforcement source told The Inquirer on condition of anonymity.
Catholic Community Services arranged Malayshia’s placement. Like Tabor Children’s Services, the organization was contracted by Philadelphia’s child welfare agency, a state spokesperson said.
In a Friday interview, Bezar said DHS had previously determined that Malayshia had suffered physical and sexual abuse in another Philadelphia foster home. She was subsequently moved into Williams’ care.
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Williams reported Malayshia missing on October 26, saying the child had not returned home from school. However, she reportedly gave relatives contradictory explanations about where the girl had last been seen.
Williams told Malayshia’s aunt, Yolanda Brown, that the child had been taken by her biological mother. Authorities located the mother and found no indication that Malayshia was with her, the outlet reported.
Police soon determined that Malayshia “may be at special risk of harm or injury,” ABC 6 reported. Philadelphia officers, FBI agents and community volunteers joined an extensive search, including efforts to examine a field near Williams’ home.
Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore later said surveillance video showed Malayshia returning from school on October 22. Investigators found no further footage of her on that block, The Inquirer reported.
Williams, a former Philadelphia schoolteacher, had previously been accused of leaving another child in her care near death. Court records show city and state officials recommended that she “never be used as a foster parent for other children in the future”
Police footage allegedly showed a man carrying Malayshia’s body from the back of Williams’ home (pictured) in a large bag commonly used to store Christmas trees, a law enforcement source told The Inquirer
Investigators also learned that Malayshia had not attended school during the days after she was last seen. Then, in the early hours of October 26, the same day Williams reported her missing, authorities recovered video that appeared to provide a crucial lead.
The recording allegedly showed a man carrying Malayshia’s body from the back of Williams’ house in a large Christmas-tree storage bag, according to a law enforcement source cited by the outlet.
Police found the girl’s body Thursday in the trunk of a car parked at the Stonington Court Apartments in Lindenwold, New Jersey, approximately 20 miles from her Philadelphia home.
“It was that video that then led law enforcement officials to a suspect vehicle, which then led law enforcement officials to find that vehicle and find a person that they wanted to speak to related to that vehicle,” Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Ashley Toczylowski said during a news conference.
Officials told CNN that Malayshia appeared to have died from blunt-force trauma. Her death was classified as a homicide.
When the body was discovered, it was “immediately apparent that she had been there for a while,” Toczylowski said.
Williams faces charges including murder, child endangerment, criminal use of a communication facility, possession of an instrument of crime, reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
A criminal complaint obtained by ABC News alleges that Williams subjected Malayshia to a series of severe punishments before her death. Those allegations include throwing the girl down stairs, denying her food and water and making her wear a weighted vest while repeatedly walking up and down the steps.
An attorney said in a Friday interview that DHS had previously determined Malayshia (pictured) suffered physical and sexual abuse in another Philadelphia foster home before she was transferred to Williams’ care
After Malayshia’s death, Williams allegedly tried to create the impression that the child was still alive by texting her phone to ask where she was, then replying to the message herself using the device.
Investigators believe Malayshia was removed from the home after appearing on surveillance footage for the final time and was transported in two different vehicles, CNN reported.
“This child is not supposed to be placed in this home. It makes no sense,” Bezar said, according to ABC 7 News.
“How does it happen? It is not supposed to, plain and simple. With what was reported by the prior certifying agency as the reason to closing the home, this is never supposed to happen again,” he added.
Williams also worked for the Philadelphia School District as a teacher, although her grade level and current employment status remain unclear. The district told ABC News and The Inquirer that it does not comment on personnel matters.
Parents of children who had been taught by Williams have since described their concerns. Kia Logan told ABC News, “My kids would always tell me how she’d be mean to them.”
Another parent, who was not identified, said Williams damaged her son’s confidence and that the family was still working to rebuild it. “I would say she would browbeat him and I very much had to advocate for him,” the parent said.
City Councilmember Nina Ahmad has called for closer examination of Philadelphia’s network of Community Umbrella Agencies, known as CUAs.
Ahmad, who is working on a ballot measure that would establish a child-welfare oversight board, told The Inquirer: “We need to look at this whole CUA system and how it’s operating. We need a lot more oversight.”
