Current:Home > Stocks'Justice was finally served': Man sentenced to death for rape, murder of 5-year-old girl -WealthSync Hub
'Justice was finally served': Man sentenced to death for rape, murder of 5-year-old girl
View
Date:2025-04-14 04:14:06
A man convicted of the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl in eastern Alabama nearly three years ago was sentenced to death by a judge on Monday.
Following a three-day trial last week, a Russell County jury on Friday found 39-year-old Jeremy Tremain Williams guilty of four counts of capital murder in the torture and slaying ofKamarie Holland, according to court officials.
The girl's body was found by police on Dec. 13, 2021 in a vacant home in Phenix City, about 80 miles east of Montgomery, near the Georgia-Alabama state line.
Jurors also found Williams guilty of one count each of: sodomy, sexual abuse of a child less than 12, production of obscene material involving a child, human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking and abuse of a corpse, a court spokesperson told to USA TODAY.
Last month, Williams pleaded guilty in the case but Alabama law requires a jury to determine if a suspect in a death penalty case is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Circuit Court Judge Judge David Johnson handed down the death sentence on Monday.
And on Tuesday, Alabama Department of Corrections records showed, Williams was being transported to Holman Correctional Facility which houses the state's death row inmates.
'Senseless act of violence':Alabama mother of 4 kidnapped, found dead in car; man charged
Kamarie Holland sold by her mother for $2,500 for one hour of sex
Prior to Kamarie's death, the child's grandmother, Christie Hoskins, had reported her missing from their home in Columbus, Georgia, according to the Montgomery Advertiser, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Trial testimony revealed the Karmarie's mother 'sold' her to Williams for $2,500 so he could sexually abuse the child, WTVM-TV reported.
He didn't want her to have the baby:So he poisoned their newborn's bottle with antifreeze.
Kamarie's mother Kristy Siple charged with human trafficking
Columbus Police Department officers said they found Kamarie’s body in the abandoned home, where Williams previously lived, with signs of sexual abuse and asphyxiation.
Court records show Williams and the child's mother, Kristy Siple, were later indicted on charges in connection to the girl's death.
Siple was charged with human trafficking.
According to her arrest warrant, Siple agreed “with another person to pay her for having sexual intercourse and sodomy with her minor child."
Siple pleaded guilty last month to one count of human sex trafficking, a court spokesperson said. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
As of Tuesday her sentencing date had not been set.
Victim's father: 'Justice was finally served'
Prior to being convicted, Williams had been suspected in at least one other child abuse case before in Alabama: He was charged with abuse of children in Phenix City in 2009 and acquitted by a jury in 2012.
Following the verdict, WTVM-TV reported Kamarie's father Corey Holland said his daughter would not be forgotten.
“Seeing that justice was finally served I’m deeply grateful,” he told the outlet.
Contributing: Hadley Hitson
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.
veryGood! (721)
Related
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- 'It was just awful': 66-year-old woman fatally struck by police truck on South Carolina beach
- Shooting in Detroit suburb leaves ‘numerous wounded victims,’ authorities say
- A few midwives seek to uphold Native Hawaiian birth traditions. Would a state law jeopardize them?
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Couple rescued from desert near California’s Joshua Tree National Park after running out of water
- What Washington Post planned to write about LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey, but didn't
- Pregnant Francesca Farago Reveals How Snapchat Saved Her Babies' Lives
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- Crews rescue 30 people trapped upside down high on Oregon amusement park ride
Ranking
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- Much of U.S. braces for extreme weather, from southern heat wave to possible snow in the Rockies
- $50M wrongful conviction case highlights decades of Chicago police forced confessions
- Here's what Pat Sajak is doing next after 'Wheel of Fortune' exit
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- More bottles of cherries found at George Washington's Mount Vernon home in spectacular discovery
- From chickens to foxes, here's how bird flu is spreading across the US
- Treasure trove recovered from ancient shipwrecks 5,000 feet underwater in South China Sea
Recommendation
Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
North West's Sassiest Moments Prove She's Ready to Take on the World
Pregnant Francesca Farago Reveals How Snapchat Saved Her Babies' Lives
US Open third round tee times: Ludvig Aberg holds lead entering weekend at Pinehurst
North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
Here's why Brat Pack Woodstock movie starring Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez wasn't made
Can Florida win Stanley Cup? Panthers vs. Oilers Game 4 live stream, TV, time, odds, keys
Arrests of 8 with suspected ISIS ties in U.S. renew concern of terror attack