JOSIAH WILLIAMS - 5 yo/ Accused: Parents: Charleston and Crystal Williams, Step-grandmother; Gloria Rosas Proo - San Antonio TX

Father, step-mother arrested in 5-year-old boy's death
Charleston & Crystal Williams charged with Injury to a Child

Published On: Dec 28 2012 11:09:56 PM CST
Updated On: Dec 29 2012 07:21:14 AM CST

SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio police have arrested two people in connection with the death of 5-year-old Josiah Williams, found dead in his south side home Thursday afternoon.

Josiah’s 25-year-old father, Charleston Williams, and 27-year-old step-mother, Crystal Williams, were taken into custody Friday night. Each is charged with one count of Injury to a Child.

Josiah Williams was pronounced dead Thursday at his home in the 3900 block of Gayle Avenue.

According to police officers, the boy had been found unresponsive in the home. At the beginning of the investigation, San Antonio Police Sergeant Javier Salazar indicated that investigators became suspicious after noticing injuries to the boy’s body.

San Antonio police took Josiah’s parents in for questioning, and ordered an autopsy on the boy, to determine his cause of death. According to San Antonio Police Spokeswoman Sandy Gutierrez, the Bexar County Medical Examiner indicated signs of abuse, malnutrition and neglect.

Crystal Williams sobbed as she was being led from police headquarters

“I love my baby, I love my baby,” said Williams.

“I made a mistake. I didn’t think his injuries were that bad,” Charleston Williams told reporters at the police station.

Charleston also apologized to his family as he was led away in handcuffs. Both will be taken to the Magistrate’s Court to be formally charged, and then transported to the Bexar County Jail.

Late Friday afternoon, Child Protective Services told KSAT 12 News that a judge had signed an order placing the boy’s two step-siblings, an 8-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, into the care of the state.

Josiah lived with his biological father and his step-mother. While CPS never called for an investigation while the boy was in his father’s home, they were aware of Josiah while he was living with his biological mother.

CPS says it offered services at that time, but there was never any court action required.

Friday morning, neighbors told KSAT 12’s Katrina Webber that the family was relatively unknown to other residents in the area.

“Nobody really knows them, at least on mutual terms, on a good relationship,” resident James Kaiser said.

Kaiser said the family just moved into the neighborhood about a year ago, and most of the neighbors thought there were only two children living in the home.

“Just the two kids is what I noticed before. You can ask most of the neighbors, they’ll say the same thing," said Kaiser. "It was kind of shocking to hear there was a third kid."

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Disturbing details emerge after third arrest in death of Josiah Williams, 5
Abuse of Williams detailed in report after third arrest in case; Step-grandmother Gloria Rosas Proo charged with injury to child

Author: Katrina Webber, Reporter, kwebber@ksat.com
Published On: Jan 04 2013 07:25:10 AM CST
Updated On: Jan 04 2013 05:34:01 PM CST

SAN ANTONIO - The arrest of 48-year-old Gloria Rosas Proo, the step-grandmother of 5-year-old Josiah Williams, has led to the release of some disturbing details of the boy’s alleged abuse.

Proo, who was arrested Thursday night, is the third person to be charged with injury to a child in this case.

Josiah’s father and step-mother, Charleston and Crystal Williams, were arrested last Friday. Proo is the mother of Crystal Williams.

Police were called to the family’s home in the 3900 block of Gayle Avenue Dec. 27 and found Josiah not breathing.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office performed an autopsy on the child the following day and reported that he was malnourished –just 38 pounds—and showed signs of physical abuse.

New details about that alleged abuse have come out in Proo’s arrest warrant affidavit.

The document states that a witness came forward, pointing the finger at Proo as the person who was in charge of disciplining Josiah.

That witness and another person both told investigators they saw Josiah being denied food while other children in the home were fed, and being forced to stand in a corner for hours at a time, the affidavit stated.

One person also mentioned seeing Proo bang the boy’s head against a wall several times, the affidavit stated.

Another witness told police he saw a closet wall with a hole about the same size around as Josiah’s head that had dried blood in it, the affidavit stated.

In the affidavit, police said they also interviewed another child in the home and he told them he once saw Proo cruelly taunt Josiah by first convincing him it was OK for him to drink a soda, then laughing in his face when he found the soda bottle empty.

After Josiah’s death, Child Protective Services took custody of the other two children in the home, police said.

Proo is being held in the Bexar County jail with bond set at $75,000

http://www.ksat.com/news/Disturbing-details-emerge-after-third-arrest-in-death-of-Josiah-Williams-5/-/478452/18009498/-/plm44v/-/index.html

Siblings of Josiah Williams to remain with Child Protective Services
Boy found dead in family home with evidence of beatings, starvation

Published On: Jan 09 2013 04:49:40 PM CST
Updated On: Jan 09 2013 05:34:58 PM CST

SAN ANTONIO -

The two surviving siblings of Josiah Williams, 5, will remain in the custody of Child Protective Services for at least the next 60 days as the result of a hearing in a Bexar County court room Wednesday morning.

Judge Charles Montemayor reached the decision after listening to testimony from a caseworker with Child Protective Services who gave details of Josiah's death and living conditions.

San Antonio police found Josiah (pictured) dead in his family’s South side home two days after Christmas. They labeled the case “suspicious” after noticing what they said was evidence the boy was starved and beaten.

A few days later, they arrested his father, Charleston Williams, 25, and stepmother, Crystal Williams, 27, on charges of injury to a child.

Crystal Williams’ mother, Gloria Proo, 48, also has been charged in connection with his death.

The hearing Wednesday morning was to determine the fate of two other children who were living in the home — Crystal Williams’ 8-year-old son by another man, and a 2-year-old daughter the couple shared.

On the witness stand, Luis Morales with CPS told the judge Josiah had two black eyes, bruises on his head and body and a possible fractured skull at the time of his death.

He also testified that Josiah slept in a cardboard box, and was punished by being deprived of food and water and forced to stand in a closet.

Morales said CPS workers observed holes in the walls of that closet which had blood in them and were about the same size as Josiah’s head, a sign that someone had banged his head against the wall.

All of this, Morales said, was witnessed by the other two children.

An attorney representing the state argued that it’s proof the children should remain in CPS custody with no visitation from the Williamses.

The judge agreed, giving CPs temporary managing conservatorship and ordering that both children be placed into counseling immediately.

Another hearing is scheduled for January 25 that could result in the Williamses losing their parental rights permanently.

http://www.ksat.com/news/Siblings-of-Josiah-Williams-to-remain-with-Child-Protective-Services/-/478452/18068618/-/9m252b/-/index.html