A West Philadelphia foster mother has been charged with murder after the 10-year-old girl in her care was found dead inside the trunk of a car outside a New Jersey apartment complex, Philadelphia prosecutors announced Thursday. Caprice Williams, 36, is accused of beating Malayshia Alford to death before her body was discovered roughly 20 to 22 miles from the home where she lived.
District Attorney Larry Krasner announced that Williams has been charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, and several other related offenses, according to Daily Voice. Investigators say Alford’s remains were located in a car trunk outside the Stonington Court Apartments in Lindenwold, Camden County, per the same outlet. Investigators told CBS News Philadelphia that police located her body around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday after an unidentified person provided its location to prosecutors.
A Timeline Marked by Conflicting Accounts
Alford lived with Williams, her foster mother, in a West Philadelphia home, according to CBS News Philadelphia. Investigators told FOX 29 that the last time Alford was believed to be alive was Thursday, October 22, at her West Philadelphia home. The Philadelphia Police Department, however, said in a missing-persons notice that she was last seen on Oct. 26, 2026, at approximately 7:30 a.m.
Accounts differ on when surveillance footage allegedly showed her body being moved. FOX 29 reported that video from around 1:53 a.m. on Oct. 26 showed what officials believe was her body being removed from the home, while WHYY reported that video evidence showed her body being removed from the home just before 2 a.m. on Oct. 2. CBS News Philadelphia separately reported that surveillance video appears to show a body being removed from a home on the 500 block of North Simpson Street shortly before 2 a.m. Monday, attributed to prosecutors. Alford was reported missing four days after she was last seen alive, investigators said, according to CBS News Philadelphia.
Cause of Death Still Unsettled in Public Reporting
Reporting on Alford’s cause of death has not been consistent. FOX 29 reported that a preliminary postmortem examination determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma and that the manner was ruled a homicide. WHYY similarly reported that an initial autopsy showed the cause of death as blunt force trauma. Daily Voice, however, reported that authorities had not yet publicly disclosed Malayshia’s official cause of death or a possible motive. CBS News Philadelphia reported that investigators say Williams killed Alford by beating her to death.
Family Members Describe a Trail of Misdirection
According to CBS News Philadelphia, Williams told relatives that Malayshia had gone to her biological mother’s home. Family members told the station, however, that the biological mother did not have visitation rights and that Malayshia was not at her home. The FBI searched Williams’s North Simpson Street home with a search warrant on Nov. 3 after agents forced entry when no one answered the door, CBS News Philadelphia reported. Investigators also searched a backyard dumpster in Lower Merion Township that day for clues, according to the station.
Foster Care Custody and a Growing Search Effort
The Philadelphia Department of Human Services commissioner confirmed that Malayshia had been in the city’s custody and was receiving foster care services, Daily Voice reported. The district attorney said at least one other person is believed to have helped dispose of the child’s remains, according to the outlet. The investigation remains ongoing and is being conducted by law enforcement partners including the Philadelphia Police Department and the FBI, WHYY reported.
As the search for Malayshia intensified in the days before her body was found, community members turned out in large numbers. Jimmy Ligon said at least 50 people came out to search the previous day, according to CBS News Philadelphia. Tyeisha Stots said coming out to the scene was devastating, the station reported. Valerie Brown, who said Malayshia had attended camp with her son, told CBS News Philadelphia that she felt hurt and deeply affected by the girl’s death. Police had previously identified the missing child as Jalayshia before she was identified by Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner as Malayshia Alford, according to an editor’s note from the station.
