RODRICUS FRED WILLAMS - 2 yo (2010) - Charleston SC

Charleston SC ---- Shaneka Washington says her son Rodricus Fred Williams
was staying with his father, Roger Williams and his girlfriend, Grace
Nicole Trotman for the summer.

“The day before I called police to his house because he was taking too
long to let me speak to him," Williams’ mother, Shaneka Washington said.



Washington told the boy’s father, Roger Williams, she wanted to pick up
her son and Tuesday night she waited for Williams’ girlfriend, Trotman
to drop off her child in North Charleston. But then she says Trotman
called her to change the pick up point.

"She said she was at the Battery because she missed the exit on the
interstate,” the boy’s grandmother, Colette Williams said. “There's no
interstate leading to the south battery so I just started feeling funny,
saying something aint right.”

Their suspicions grew worse, when Washington says Trotman claimed the
two year old went missing at the Battery.

"When she turned around he was gone. There were so many people out there
someone would have seen him," Washington said.

Police, fire and rescue workers, even the Coast Guard chopper searched
all night in the waters and the streets. Then police called off the
search, saying the child was never at the Battery and that it was based on a false report.

“I kept saying she did something else with him. I told my daughter, for
some reason, I don't think she ever brought him here."

The mother and grandmother believe it was all a plan.

“They had already pre-meditated this whole thing. They planned it already,” Washington said.

While the investigation continued, police tracked the boy's father to
the Economy Inn in Summerville where they arrested him on unrelated charges.

South Carolina officials have found a human body
encased in concrete in a trash bin during their investigation into a
missing 2-year-old boy.

Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said
Wednesday that investigators were led to the trash bin in Bowman after
interviewing the father of Rodricus Williams and the father's
girlfriend.

DeWitt said the bin and its contents have been
sent to the Medical University of South Carolina for a forensic
examination to determine whose body it is.

Rodricus initially was reported missing Tuesday
along Charleston's Battery, but police think he was never there.

The boy's 29-year-old father, Roger Anthony
Williams, was arrested early Wednesday morning on several bench
warrants. It was not known whether he has an attorney.

SLED officials have found a human body encased in
concrete in a trash bin during their investigation into a missing 2-year-old boy.

Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said Wednesday that
investigators were led to the trash bin in Bowman after interviewing the
father of Rodricus Williams and the father's girlfriend.

DeWitt said the bin and its contents have been sent to the
Medical University of South Carolina for a forensic examination to
determine whose body it is.

Crews began searching for Rodricus around 9:15 Tuesday
night in Charleston. They first said they got a report that the
2-year-old fell over the railing at the Battery and into the Charleston Harbor.

Rescue squads including police, volunteers, and the Department of
Natural Resources all searched for the child.


However, early Thursday morning, Summerville police say they arrested
the boy's father, 28-year-old Roger Williams. The
father had the boy in his custody for the past two months, and was
supposed to have returned him to his mother Tuesday. The parents are
currently involved in a custody dispute over Rodricus.
Roger Williams reportedly has four outstanding warrants for his arrest,
and was apparently not cooperating with investigators in the search for his son.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation
into the disappearance of a 2-year-old Charleston boy say a child's body
was found in a trash can in a rural town off I-26.

Orangeburg County deputies assisting in the
investigation said a body was found at the search site in Bowman. None
of the agencies involved have said the remains found were those of the missing boy.

Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt said
Wednesday evening that law enforcement agencies were interviewing the
child's father, 28-year-old Roger Williams and Williams' girlfriend, Grace Nicole Trotman.

Based on information obtained in the
interviews, DeWitt said authorities were directed to an abandoned mobile
home near Bowman in Orangeburg County where they found a cement-filled trash can.

The can was transported to MUSC and the contents would be "forensically disassembled"
to determine whether the boy's body was inside, DeWitt said.

"We wish for the best, but we are prepared for the worst," DeWitt said.

The Sheriff said no new charges had been levied against the father at this point
and Williams' girlfriend has not been charged with any crimes.

"She is being very cooperative," he added.

Authorities hope to have a clear picture of the contents of the trash can by mid-morning Thursday.

The tale started Tuesday night when police
were notified a boy had fallen over the Battery wall and into Charleston
harbor. Rescue crews scrambled to the scene and spent several hours
searching the harbor for the missing 2-year-old.

Because the child's alleged disappearance happened in downtown Charleston, the city police
took the lead investigative role. The Charleston County Volunteer Rescue
Squad, the Department of Natural Resources, the Coast Guard, the
Charleston County Sheriff's Office, the South Carolina Law Enforcement
Division and the FBI joined the effort.

By 11 p.m. however, the Charleston County Rescue
Squad was no longer confident the boy had fallen in the water.
Wednesday morning, just an hour after patrols resumed searching for the
boy in the harbor, Charleston police called off the search, saying the
boy had never been anywhere near the battery.

Police said the call alerting police to the incident had been made up.

Early Wednesday morning, police arrested Williams at a Summerville hotel.

According to police, when they entered the hotel room, Roger Williams said, "I'm the one you are looking for."

Williams has four outstanding warrants for his arrest and police said he was not
cooperating with authorities as they searched for his son.

Charleston police announced Wednesday afternoon they were no longer leading the
investigation. The Berkeley County Sheriff's Office took over the investigation.

South Carolina police have charged a man and his girlfriend with homicide by child abuse in the
death of a toddler whose body was found encased in concrete in a trash bin.
Berkeley County Sheriff's spokesman Dan Moon said 29-year-old Roger Williams and Grace
Nichole Trotman were charged Thursday.Investigators were awaiting results of a DNA
test to determine whether the body found Wednesday was that of Rodricus Williams.
Sheriff Wayne DeWitt says the badly decomposed body was that of a young black
boy with twists in his hair, matching the description Trotman and
Williams had given Charleston police when they reported the boy missing Tuesday night.
Trotman also has been charged in Charleston with filing a false police report.

A longtime friend of the woman charged in
the apparent death of a two year old boy says the suspect feared her co
defendant in the case.

Grace Trotman, 24, and Roger Williams, 29, are charged with homicide by child abuse.



Berkeley County sheriff's deputies say a body
found encased in cement in a trash can in Orangeburg County may be that Williams' son.

Rodricus Williams, 2, was reported missing byTrotman.

A woman who to hide her identity
said Williams had control over Trotman. "I don't know what she was
thinking," said the woman who asked to be called "Cindy." I mean, I
know he had mind control over her. If he says stand up she would stand
up. if he says sit down, she will sit down."

Cindy said Trotman feared Williams and that
she was afraid to leave the father of her two children. "Think she
should have been a long ago got out of this situation. It wouldn't have
even come to this."

She believes Williams told Trotman to lie to
police that the boy fell into waters on Charleston's Battery.

And she thinks it was Williams who came up
with the idea of encasing the body of a young African-American boy in
cement in a trash can and leaving it in woods in Orangeburg County.

"That's his child. You gonna put your child
in a trash can, in cement? said 'Cindy'."That's what you're really gonna
do? That's just basically saying that he was nothing, that he meant
nothing, and you're not showing any remorse."

She said when things are sorted out, the chips will fall on both Trotman and Williams.

"In this situation I think everybody's to
blame. But I think he's where he deserves to be," said 'Cindy'. "I just
want Grace to know that she needs to pray and ask God for forgiveness."

In the days after he allegedly let his son die, Roger "Tony"
Williams promoted late-night parties at local nightclubs featuring
scantily clad women and cash give-aways, his Facebook page shows.Williams,
29, is accused of refusing to get medical care for his 2-year-old son
after the boy's health failed on June 7 in Summerville. When little
Rodricus Williams died, investigators said, Williams and girlfriend
Grace Trotman dumped him behind an abandoned house in Bowman in a
garbage can filled with 400 pounds of cement.Authorities said the
pair then concocted a story about the toddler falling into Charleston
Harbor on Tuesday while walking along The Battery sea wall.
That led to an exhaustive, 12-hour search by police, fire and Coast
Guard personnel that cost nearly $58,000 to conduct, according to city
officials.Charleston police released a tape Friday of the 911
call Trotman placed that night. In a calm voice, she is heard telling a
police dispatcher that the boy simply disappeared when she was walking
with her children."When I turned back around, he wasn't there,"
she said. "Um, I have some people right now that's helping me try to
look for him, but we don't seem to find him."That was because he
had been dead about a month at the point, according to arrest
affidavits.If the couple was plagued by guilt, Williams gave no
indication of that on his Facebook page, which he used to promote events
for Pipeboyz Entertainment. He was busy hawking one event just two days
after his son reportedly died. The page, on which he goes by his middle
name, shows a shirtless Williams hoisting a middle finger to a camera.The
events pitch "Wasted Wednesday," "Wet Bikini Wednesdays" and "Hypnotic
Exotic Fridays" at Skyy Lounge in Goose Creek and other locations. In
expletive-ridden posts, Williams boasts of having naked and near-naked
women on hand, cheap drinks and cash give-aways."WE ARE A MAN OF
OUR WORD," Williams wrote in a June 20 post. "WE DROPPED A 1000 DOLLARS
LAST NIGHT, WE PARTIED TILL 5, WE HAD NO DRAMA, AND NO POLICE!WHO
ELSE DOES IT BIGGER! PIPEBOYZ ENT. FELLAS WE GOT BIKINI NITE 2NITE, SO
CME ENJOY URSLEF AND RELAX LIKE SME REAL PIMPS!!!"Trotman, who
worked part-time at a Dorchester County fiberglass plant, wrote on her
Facebook page that she is a 2005 graduate of Summerville High School and
has two children, ages 2 and 9 months. Rodricus reportedly died in her
home on Longbourne Way in Summerville, and investigators have credited
her statements with helping lead them to the concrete-filled trash can
on Wednesday.Berkeley County detectives are awaiting DNA tests to
definitively identify the body chipped from the cement.In the
meantime, Trotman and Williams are being held without bail in the
Berkeley County jail on charges of homicide by child abuse.

There's reminders of little Rodricus
Williams scattered all over Connie Huger's living room. From his
favorite toys down to the spot where he carved a number two on the
coffee table, Rodricus' memory lives on.

"We loved him dearly we loved him so much. He
was a loving child, he was smart and he was happy when he was here,"
Huger said.

Connie and her daughter Sade babysat Rodricus
Williams off and on over the past two years. The Hugers met him through
a family friend when the child was 5-months old. According to them, the
boy's mother knew how much they cared for him.

"She knows whenever she called on us...if she
wanted us for anything, whatever he needed. If she wasn't able to
provide she could call, and we were there," Huger said.

Huger worries what might have happened if she
hadn't contacted Rodricus' mother to check up on him.

"Had I not been aggravating her and bugging
her 'let's go look for him' or what not- his body would still be where
it was, nobody was going to be looking for him," Huger said.

The last time the Hugers saw Rodricus was in
May. That's when they said his mother sent him to live with his father
Roger.

Since the announcement of his mysterious
disappearance Connie and Sade have a hard time coping.
"At night, it's hard
for me to close my eyes and imagine what was going on, but I have to
keep praying. I can't imagine things like that because it would kill
me," Sade said.
Her
mother Connie said she's equally hurt by the boy's disappearance, but
said it's also scary.

"Even though the little boy they're
describing is him they haven't really confirmed it's him and I'm just
worried if it's not him then where is he? If it is him, then I thank God
he's in a better place now and that no one can ever harm him again,"
Huger said.

In response to Rodricus' alleged health
problems, Huger said the child did not have a medical condition while
she took care of him.

The coroner and forensic doctors have not
identified Rodricus as the body of the child that was found in the
plastic trash can filled with cement. In the mean time, the Hugers said
they'll be praying for him.

Despite no positive identification, the
family of a missing Lowcountry toddler will hold a funeral for him on
Tuesday.

Services for 2-year old Rodricus Williams
will be held at noon at the Ebenezer AME Church in downtown Charleston.

The toddler was reported missing last Tuesday
night.

The child's father, Roger Williams, and
girlfriend, Grace Trotman, are charged with homicide by child abuse.

The Berkeley County coroner has not released
autopsy results or a positive ID for the body of a child found encased
in cement in a trash can last Wednesday.

The undersized white casket, ringed by a baby blue stripe, rested on a
bed of flowers. Nearby was a large photograph of 2-year-old Rodricus
Williams with a happy grin.

“If there is a truth we can agree on,” the Rev. Dr. William Swinton
said inside Ebenezer AME Church, “it is the innocence of little
children.”

Hundreds gathered Tuesday to say good-bye to little Rodricus
Williams, the outgoing, friendly child who, authorities say, died of
neglect last month while in his father’s care.
Roger “Tony” Williams, 29, reportedly refused to get medical care for
his son after the boy’s health failed sometime around June 7 in
Summerville. He is one of two people charged in the death, accused of
homicide by child abuse.

During the child’s one-hour funeral service, none of the
circumstances surrounding the boy’s tragic death was discussed. Instead,
mourners used the day to remember Rodricus as a shining light who liked
to play with cars and trucks, and often spoke with an inquisitive
vocabulary far above that of the average 2-year-old.

“The pain is overwhelming,” said service attendee Helen Freeman of
Calvary Episcopal Day School on Line Street where Rodricus attended
classes. “This child was especially such a happy child,” she added.
“One of the teachers nicknamed him ‘Smiley.’ ”

Rodricus’ casket entered the church on Nassau Street escorted by four
Citadel cadets. It was placed at the front of the congregation while a
choir sang numerous hymns dedicated to children and heaven. The various
speakers then asked the 300 or more people assembled to put their trust
in God for the explanation as to why an innocent young life was taken
away so abruptly.

“May you find comfort in that this little soul found comfort in the
one who gave it,” Swinton said.

Rodricus’ death unfolded last week after Williams’ girlfriend, Grace
Trotman, told authorities that she had lost track of the boy during a
visit to The Battery. A massive 12-hour search by police, fire and Coast
Guard personnel ensued but was called off as Trotman’s claim was proven
to be a hoax.

Hours later, the case took a fatal turn when police say they learned
the child had passed away, and that Williams and Trotman had dumped him
behind an abandoned house in Bowman in a garbage can filled with 400
pounds of cement. The pair are now being held without bail in the
Berkeley County jail.

Of the various speakers, Louis Owens, an assistant class leader at
Ebenezer AME, told the audience to remember that while Rodricus had been
taken away young, he traveled “in the arms of the angels.”

“Sleep now, little one, and we will see you in the morning,” Owens
said, standing a few feet from the child’s casket. “Good night sweet
prince, good night.”

The child’s mother, Sheneka Washington, was one of several family
members who had to be escorted out of the church in grief as the service
closed.

DNA confirmation has revealed the body of a child
found encased in a cement-filled trash can last week is that of
2-year-old Rodricus Williams.

The Berkeley County Coroner's Office announced the
findings of a State Law Enforcement Division DNA analysis just before
10 a.m. Wednesday.

The findings bring a slight amount of closure to a
family in turmoil after it was reported the 2-year-old boy went missing
after falling in the Battery in Downtown Charleston last week.

The call for help spurred a massive search by land
and water for the 2-year-old, but rescue crews were never able to
successfully recover the boy. Investigators were later led to an
abandoned mobile home in Berkeley County, where the body of an
African-American child was found.

The body of the child, according to the Berkeley
County Sheriff's Office, was found encased in 450 pounds of concrete
inside a 30-gallon trash can.

Williams' father, Roger Williams, 28, and his
live-in girlfriend, Grace Nichole Trotman, 24, were arrested and charged
with homicide by child abuse in connection to the boy's death.

An affidavit alleges Williams' girlfriend admitted
to an FBI agent that she made up the missing child story to cover up an
incident that caused great harm to the child.

Williams' affidavit acknowledged his 2-year-old
son had a condition that needed to be closely monitored. When the boy
became ill, he told Trotman not to seek medical help. The man admitted
he did not contact a health care provider, either.

Family and friends paid their final respects to
the 2-year-old boy during a funeral service Tuesday at the Ebenezer
A.M.E Church in Downtown Charleston. The service was followed by the
boy's burial at the Monrovia Cemetery.

According to the Berkeley County coroner's
office, 2-year-old Rodricus Williams, whose body was found in a
cement-filled trash can two months ago, died from blunt head trauma.

Autopsy results were released Thursday.
Rodricus Williams' father, Roger Anthony Williams and his girlfriend,
Grace Trotman, are still behind bars. They are both charged with
homicide by child abuse.

Roger Williams was scheduled to appear in
front of a judge in Summerville for previous marijuana charges, but the
hearing is now scheduled for Oct. 7.

A Berkeley County sheriff's office spokesman
said the autopsy results will not change the charges against the couple.
The couple has said Rodricus Williams died because of a health issue.

The tragic story that started on July 6 with
reports that the boy was missing after falling in the Battery in
downtown Charleston.

The boy was never in the water and his
father, 28-year-old Roger Williams, and the father's live-in
girlfriend, 24-year-old Grace Nichole Trotman, are in jail after being
charged with homicide by child abuse last week.

According to an affidavit, Trotman admitted
to an FBI agent that "she made up the missing child story to cover up
an incident in which great bodily harm to the child occurred."

According to Roger Williams' affidavit, he
acknowledged the boy had an ongoing health condition that needed to be
monitored. However, when Rodricus Williams fell ill, he instructed
Trotman not to contact health care providers. He admitted to
investigators he did not call for medical help either.

After the boy allegedly died, authorities
were directed to an abandoned mobile home near Bowman in Orangeburg
County where they found the body of a small African-American boy
encased in 450 pounds of concrete inside a plastic 30-gallon trash
can.

Today marks anniversary of search for Rodricus Williams

Jul 07, 2011 6:18 AM



BERKELEY COUNTY, SC (WCSC) -
Wednesday marks the one-year
anniversary of the search for 2-year-old Rodricus Williams whose body
was eventually found in a cement-filled trash can in Orangeburg County.
The tragic story started on July 6, 2010 with
reports that the boy was missing after falling in the Battery in
downtown Charleston.
The boy was never in the water and his
father, 28-year-old Roger Williams, and the father's live-in girlfriend,
24-year-old Grace Nichole Trotman, are in the Berkeley County Detention
Center awaiting trial. Both are charged with homicide by child abuse.
According to an affidavit, Trotman admitted
to an FBI agent that "she made up the missing child story to cover up an
incident in which great bodily harm to the child occurred."
According to Roger Williams' affidavit, he
acknowledged the boy had an ongoing health condition that needed to be
monitored. However, when Rodricus Williams fell ill, he instructed
Trotman not to contact health care providers. He admitted to
investigators he did not call for medical help either.
After the boy died, authorities were directed
to an abandoned mobile home near Bowman in Orangeburg County where they
found the body of a small African-American boy encased in 450 pounds of
concrete inside a plastic 30-gallon trash can.
http://www.live5news.com/story/15034887/anniversary-of-rodricus-williams-death

A woman pleaded guilty last week to helping dispose of her boyfriend's 2-year-old son's body in a trash can and then filling it with 450 pounds of concrete in 2010.

Grace Trotman entered a guilty plea on charges of homicide by child abuse and desecration of human remains. She could face 20 years in jail for the death of Rodricus Williams and up to 10 years for the desecration charge. Sentencing will take place at a later date.


The tragic story started on July 6, 2010 with reports that the boy was missing after falling in the Battery in downtown Charleston. Authorities launched a massive search for the boy who was actually never in the water. The boy's father, 28-year-old Roger Williams, and his live-in girlfriend, 24-year-old Trotman, were arrested.

Trotman admitted to an FBI agent that she made up the missing child story to cover up the child's death. In an affidavit, Roger Williams acknowledged the boy had an ongoing health condition that needed to be monitored. However, when Rodricus Williams fell ill, he instructed Trotman not to contact health care providers. He admitted to investigators he did not call for medical help either.

After the boy died, authorities were directed to an abandoned mobile home near Bowman in Orangeburg County where they found the body of 2-year-old Rodricus Williams of encased in 450 pounds of concrete inside a plastic 30-gallon trash can.

http://www.wistv.com/story/16981767/woman-pleads-guilty-for-role-in

Poor baby boy was murdered by his own father and his POS girlfriend. I hope they get life in prison. Their stupid story about the baby dying of health reasons is so ridiculous. It's obvious they beat that baby to death. I hope the court system gives them what they deserve. It sounds like the baby was dead long before the mother knew and they were trying to hide it. The poor mom. I can't imagine her pain.

I want to know what is going to happen to the POS father. It's bad enough when it's a POS boyfriend but when it is his own father it is even worse. IMO. This time it is a POS girlfriend.

Why in the world didn't he just leave the little boy home with his mother? Probably to punish the mother, certainly not because he wanted to see his son. Evil POS.

Dad gets life after killing 2-year old son and burying body in cement
Roger Anthony Williams

October 14, 2012
By: Richard Webster

A South Carolina father, Roger Anthony Williams, abused and beat his 2-year old son to death and tried to hide the baby boy’s body by placing it into a trashcan filled with cement. It took a jury only 33 minutes on Thursday to find Williams guilty of homicide by child abuse.

Circuit Judge R. Markley Dennis sentenced Williams to life in prison.

According to GoUpstate, at the time of the toddler’s death in June, 2012, Williams’ girlfriend Grace Trotman originally informed authorities that the child was lost after falling into the ocean at the Charleston Battery. Trotman eventually confessed and led police to the child’s remains in Orangeburg County, which is located in central South Carolina.

Williams blamed his son’s death on the girlfriend.

“Williams admitted to putting his son into a barrel after he died in June 2010, filling it with concrete and taking it from Summerville to Orangeburg County.

The former girlfriend was the primary witness against the father who stated in court that Williams often hit his son Rodricus, and that Williams “showed no emotion when a blow to the head led to the boy's death.”

“She said Williams wiped his son with peroxide to get rid of fingerprints, wrapped the body in trash bags and tapes and dropped the boy headfirst into a trash can he filled with concrete. The couple rented a truck and dumped the trash can in Bowman …

Grace Trotman pleaded guilty for her part in the child’s death and received a plea deal with the prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against Williams. As part that plea deal, Trotman will be sentenced at a later date.
http://www.examiner.com/article/dad-gets-life-after-killing-2-year-old-son-and-burying-body-cement

Grace Trotman sentenced for role in Rodricus Williams death

By: Count On 2 Staff
Published: December 11, 2012
Updated: December 11, 2012 - 11:48 AM

In February, Trotman admitted to helping her ex-boyfriend, Roger Williams, dispose of his son's body in 2010.

Trotman and her former boyfriend, Roger Williams, made up a story about the Rodricus Williams being lost at the Charleston Battery in 2010 until Grace Trotman told investigators he was dead and led them to his body.

Trotman testified against her former boyfriend Roger Williams. Williams was sentence to life without parole in October.

The judge took into account Trotman's rough childhood where she was abused, molested and in and out of foster care. Experts testified about her violent relationship with Roger Williams, who was Rodricus' father.

Trotman was sentenced to 15 years for homicide by child abuse and 10 years for desecration of remains. The sentences will run concurrently.

Family on both sides of the courtroom cried during the sentencing, including Grace who broke down during her final remarks. Following sentencing, Rodricus' mother said she learned a lot she never knew about Grace Trotman.

http://www2.counton2.com/news/2012/dec/11/11/grace-trotman-sentenced-role-rodricus-williams-dea-ar-5148586/