Man faces capital murder charge after missing 5-year-old girl found dead in Phenix City
A 5-year-old girl who went missing in Columbus Monday morning was found dead in Phenix City, Alabama, Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said in a joint press conference with the Columbus Police Department and Russell County District Attorney’s Office Tuesday.
Kamarie Holland disappeared from her home on Bowman Street in Columbus, the Columbus Police Department said in a news release.
She was found in a vacant residence in Phenix City and pronounced dead around 11:15 p.m. Initial evidence points to asphyxiation as the cause of death, Taylor said, standing alongside CPD Assistant Chief Joyce Dent-Fitzpatrick and Russell County Chief Assistant District Attorney Rick Chancey.
The child was possibly sexually abused, he said. The body has been sent for autopsy and investigators hope to recover DNA evidence.
Jeremy Tremaine Williams was captured Monday night at the Bamboo Hotel on Opelika Road and has been charged with capital murder in Alabama, Taylor said.
Should he be found guilty, Williams will face either life in prison without parole or the death sentence, said Chancey. If the facts and evidence continue to unfold as they have so far, Chancey said the district attorney will likely seek the death sentence.
Once the investigation is complete, Taylor said, he expects Williams could be charged with capital murder during kidnapping and potentially capital murder during a rape.
Williams is being held in the Russell County Jail and will have an initial hearing at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. The district attorney will ask that no bond be set, Chancey said, and that Williams be held without bond pending further developments in the case.
Initial investigations
Kamarie’s mother went to bed around midnight after the girl was already asleep, and woke up around 5:50 a.m. Monday to find Kamarie missing and the front door open, Taylor said. She called CPD at 6:15 a.m. to report her child missing.
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Columbus police began working the case as a missing persons incident and determined that Williams was a suspect around mid-day. When Columbus investigators discovered Williams could be located in Phenix City, they called in Taylor’s office to assist in the case, he said.
Initial investigations show Williams and Kamarie’s mother did know each other, Taylor said. They did not have a romantic connection.
Not long after collaborating on the case, authorities found Williams at the Bamboo Hotel with his uncle, Taylor said. Hotel officials told investigators that Williams had been at the hotel for about 30 minutes. Williams’ uncle is not considered to be an accessory to the crime, Taylor said.
Kamarie was found at a vacant residence of Williams’ on 15th Street in Phenix City, Taylor said. Teams from CPD and the Russell County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene, said Dent-Fitzpatrick.
Investigators are looking into whether drugs were involved, Taylor said, saying they believe Williams sold drugs off and on to “support his own habit.”
The two departments will continue working the case together until it goes to trial, Taylor said.
“It’s a sad time to have to speak about a 5 year old ...who absolutely did nothing wrong. It’s sad,” Taylor said. “The Columbus Police Department and my office has done a lot of work in a short period of time. ... There’s a lot of details that I’m not willing to disclose at this time because of the urgency in this case and potential other folks that we may be looking into as suspects or offenders alongside Mr. Williams.”
Previous history
Taylor said Williams has a history of child abuse allegations and was not listed on any sex offender registries.
In 2009, he was charged with abuse of children in Phenix City but was acquitted of charges in 2012. He faced a similar charge in Columbus, but Taylor said he was not sure of the outcome of that case.
Williams also was identified as a suspect in the death of a 1 year old in Alaska, but was never charged due to lack of evidence, Taylor said.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 11:28 AM.
