Crime & Courts

Man accused of child’s murder in Alabama now charged in 2005 death of infant daughter in Alaska

A man charged in the sexual assault and slaying of a 5-year-old girl in Alabama is now accused of killing his infant daughter in Alaska nearly 18 years ago.

Jeremy Tremaine Williams, 38, faces charges of second-degree murder in the death of 1-month-old Naudia Trenice Williams. A Fairbanks grand jury handed down an indictment in the case on Thursday.

When the girl died in January 2005, the small North Pole Police Department investigated the death of Williams’ infant as suspicious. She had blunt force injuries, and he’d been with her while the baby’s mother was at work, according to a charging document in the case.

But the manner of death was ruled “undetermined” and Williams shut down interviews and refused a polygraph, the charges say.

He was not charged with a crime. A couple months later, he moved away.

Williams would later tell police in Alabama he “left Alaska before the police got too involved,” according to charging documents.

He went on to accumulate a string of child abuse accusations in other states.

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“The defendant is now charged with murdering young children in both Alaska and Alabama,” the charges against him say. “In Alabama, he is also charged with having committed numerous sex offenses against multiple children as well.”

In 2009, he was charged in Alabama with putting a boy he was babysitting in scalding hot water, causing severe burns, according to the charging document. A jury acquitted him.

In December 2021, Williams was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a 5-year-old girl from her home in Columbus, Georgia, before sexually abusing and killing her.

Kamarie Holland’s body was found in an abandoned house across state lines, in neighboring Phenix City, Alabama. Williams is charged with murder, sexual assault, producing child pornography and kidnapping in her death.

He also faces at least one separate sexual abuse of a child case filed in October.

Holland’s mother was later charged with trafficking her to Williams.

While police in Alabama interviewed Williams about Holland’s death, he admitted that he’d killed his infant daughter in North Pole in 2005 by hitting her and throwing her down stairs because she was crying, according to the charging documents. ”The defendant says he does not know what is wrong with him but a child that keeps crying just does something to him,” the charging documents say.

Police in Alaska reopened the case in early 2022, Alabama television station WRBL reported.

In December, an Alaska medical examiner reviewed the baby’s autopsy originally performed in 2005, according to the charges. A prior medical examiner found the manner of the infant’s death to be “undetermined.” The current medical examiner determined the death to be a homicide in light of “recent evidentiary findings and multiple head injuries.”

Williams has pleaded not guilty to the Alabama murder case by reason of insanity. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. He’s been held without bail in Alabama.

Court records show the Fairbanks court issued an arrest warrant Friday.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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