A 20-year-old Baltimore woman is facing a first-degree child abuse charge after investigators say her two-month-old son died from head trauma, severe dehydration and malnutrition. Taylor Williams was arrested last Monday and booked in connection with the death of her infant son, Malik Woodard, who died in 2025.
According to WBAL-TV, Baltimore City police were first called to Northeast Baltimore on Aug. 31, 2025, after a report of a non-breathing infant. An Instagram post from murder_ink_bmore
specifies that officers responded to the intersection of Loch Raven Boulevard and Gorsuch Avenue. Malik was rushed to Johns Hopkins Pediatrics, where he later died, the station's report states.
It took nearly ten months for investigators to learn exactly how the infant died. The station reports that the medical examiner told police in June 2026 that Malik's cause of death was head trauma, severe dehydration and malnutrition — findings that transformed the case from a non-breathing infant call into a homicide investigation.
A Year-Long Gap Between Death and Charges
The same Instagram account pins the exact date of that notification: the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner formally told homicide investigators on June 22, 2026, of the infant's cause of death. In February 2022, CBS News reported staffing shortages and an autopsy backlog at the office, and said case turnaround could take two weeks.
Once the medical findings came back, homicide detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Williams, per the station's report. Members of the Baltimore Police Warrant Apprehension Task Force arrested her on Oct. 5 in the 300 block of Kane Street, according to the Instagram post from murder_ink_bmore, before transporting her to Central Booking.
What Maryland Law Says About the Charge
Williams now faces a charge of first-degree child abuse resulting in death, the station notes. Under Maryland Code, Criminal Law § 3-601, a conviction on that charge for a victim under 13 years old carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, according to information compiled by the Maryland General Assembly. The same statute defines “severe physical injury” in child abuse cases to include brain injury, skull bleeding, starvation, or physical injuries creating a substantial risk of death.
How Baltimore Reviews Child Deaths
Cases like Malik's typically trigger review beyond the criminal investigation itself. Baltimore City uses a multidisciplinary Child Fatality Review team that examines unexpected deaths of children under 18 to identify systemic safety gaps and prevention strategies, according to the Maryland Department of Health.
Separately, University of Maryland School of Social Work scholar Richard Barth noted in The Elm that Maryland had historically overreported child fatality statistics tied to abuse and neglect, discussing distinctions in whether mistreatment was substantiated.
Maryland law requires healthcare professionals and educators to report suspected child maltreatment immediately, and the state operates a 24-hour Child Protective Services hotline at 1-800-91-PREVENT for anyone with concerns about a child's safety, according to LifeBridge Health.
