The foster mother of 10-year-old Malayshia Alford has been charged with murder after the missing Philadelphia girl was found dead in the boot of a car in New Jersey, prosecutors said.
Caprice Williams, 36, is also facing charges including endangering the welfare of a child, criminal use of a communication facility, possession of an instrument of crime, reckless endangerment, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Alford’s body was discovered late on Wednesday at an apartment complex in Lindenwold, around 15 miles from the West Philadelphia home where she lived with Williams. The property has been identified as the Stonington Court Apartments in Camden County.
A preliminary postmortem examination found that the child died from blunt force trauma. Her death has been classified as a homicide.
Assistant district attorney Ashley Toczylowski said investigators recovered surveillance footage showing what appeared to be Alford’s body being removed from the home at about 1.53am on October 26.
That footage led officers to a vehicle believed to be connected to the disappearance. A person linked to the vehicle was questioned, and information obtained during that interview helped police locate the car and recover Alford’s body, prosecutors said.
Alford was last seen returning from school on October 22 at the house on North Simpson Street. She did not attend school the following day and was reported missing on October 26.
Philadelphia police and the FBI searched across West Philadelphia, including areas around Cobbs Creek, while relatives and members of the community distributed missing-person flyers.
Ms Toczylowski said investigators had found indications that the child had been abused and that objects may have been used in the alleged abuse. Prosecutors have not said whether further charges will be brought against anyone else.
District attorney Larry Krasner said the surveillance footage appeared to show somebody other than Williams removing the body from the property, but he did not identify that person.
“There are no words that can make sense out of nonsense,” the Rev Dr Alyn E Waller said at a news conference. “We are judged by how the children of our community fare.”
Alford’s aunt urged people to ignore rumours circulating on social media and said the girl’s biological parents loved her.
Mr Krasner said the case would be prosecuted “vigorously”. The charges against Williams are allegations, and she has not been convicted.
