REMEMBERING JOSIAH

Before the abuse consumed the final months of his life, Josiah Williams was a happy little boy who was thriving. For eight months, Josiah lived with his maternal grandmother, Patty Ojeda-Quintero. She remembered a healthy four year old who was taller than many of the other children in his preschool class. Josiah loved being outside. He loved watching SpongeBob SquarePants. Photographs preserved by his family show a little boy with a huge smile. He dressed as Woody from Toy Story. For Fiesta, he wore a colorful costume and smiled for the camera. Those photographs are important. They show what Josiah looked like before starvation and abuse transformed his body. He was smiling. He was playing. He was going to preschool. He was surrounded by relatives who knew him as a happy child. Then custody changed. Six months later, Josiah was dead.

JOSIAH’S STORY

Josiah’s biological mother was incarcerated, and for approximately eight months he lived with his maternal grandmother. During that time, Josiah was healthy and thriving. His father, Charleston Williams, eventually resumed visitation and sought custody of him. Josiah went to live with Charleston, his stepmother Crystal Williams, and other children in the household. Crystal’s mother, Gloria Proo, also spent significant time caring for and disciplining Josiah. Over the following six months, Josiah’s life changed dramatically. He was isolated. He was kept away from school. He was denied adequate food and water. Witnesses later described seeing Crystal and Gloria strike and taunt Josiah. He was not allowed to eat with everyone else. According to witnesses, Josiah sometimes had to wait until the rest of the family finished eating before he was permitted to have scraps. He was confined inside a closet for extended periods. He was forced to sleep in a cardboard box. Investigators would later discover bloody holes inside the closet approximately the size of Josiah’s head. The physical abuse left injuries across his body. There were bruises. Cuts. Tears and gashes. Burns. Both of his eyes were blackened. His injuries were in different stages of healing, evidence that what happened to him was not a single incident. At the same time, Josiah was starving. His family outside the home tried to find him. His grandmother called. She sent emails. She sent Facebook messages. She drove to addresses where she believed Charleston and Crystal might be living. Other relatives searched for him too. They visited previous addresses and even looked for the family in stores around the area. But Charleston and Crystal stopped responding. Josiah effectively disappeared from the relatives who had previously cared for him. On December 27, 2012, emergency responders were called to the family’s San Antonio home. Josiah was unresponsive. By the time paramedics arrived, he was already dead. He was severely emaciated. His eyes were black and swollen. Injuries covered his body, many in different stages of healing. Josiah weighed approximately 38 pounds. Medical testimony would later establish that he had suffered prolonged malnutrition and physical abuse. The healthy, smiling preschooler his grandmother had cared for only months earlier was gone.

SYSTEM FAILURES & WARNING SIGNS

Josiah’s death raised painful questions about how a child who had been healthy and thriving could be transferred into another home, disappear from school and relatives, and die six months later after prolonged starvation and abuse. His maternal grandmother had cared for him for approximately eight months while his mother was incarcerated. She described Josiah as healthy and thriving in her care. His father later sought custody. Charleston and Crystal Williams were awarded temporary custody. Once Josiah entered their home, relatives increasingly lost access to him. His grandmother tried repeatedly to locate him but was unable to force contact. She later described the helplessness of knowing something was wrong while having no legal authority as a grandparent to demand access to him. Josiah was also no longer attending school. That removed another set of adults from his life who might have noticed his dramatic weight loss, injuries and changing condition. By the time authorities fully saw what had happened inside the home, Josiah was dead. His case became part of a broader crisis involving child abuse in Bexar County, which had one of the highest rates of confirmed child abuse and neglect among Texas’s major urban areas and an especially troubling number of children who were repeatedly involved with the child protection system. Josiah did not become severely emaciated overnight. His injuries did not appear all at once. The evidence showed prolonged abuse. His body contained injuries in different stages of healing. He had two black eyes. There were bruises, cuts, burns, tears and gashes. He was losing weight. He was being deprived of food. He was isolated in a closet. He was forced to sleep in a cardboard box. He stopped attending school. And relatives who had previously been part of his life suddenly could not reach him. Isolation can hide abuse. When a child suddenly disappears from school, doctors, relatives and other adults who previously saw them regularly, an abuser loses witnesses. Josiah’s world became smaller while the abuse became worse. By the time outsiders entered that world again, there was no longer time to save him.

JUSTICE FOR JOSIAH

Charleston Williams, Crystal Williams and Gloria Proo were all charged with injury to a child in connection with Josiah’s death. Their cases ultimately ended in convictions. Crystal was the first to resolve her case. In June 2016, she pleaded guilty to injury to a child involving serious bodily injury by omission. She admitted failing to obtain medical attention for Josiah. A jury sentenced her to 99 years in prison. Gloria went to trial in 2017. Prosecutors argued that as one of Josiah’s caregivers, she failed to intervene while he was being deprived of food and physically abused. A jury convicted Gloria of injury to a child by omission. She was sentenced to 88 years in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Charleston later accepted a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission. In March 2018, Charleston stood before the court and acknowledged that he had failed to protect his son. The judge imposed the maximum sentence allowed under his plea agreement. Charleston received 40 years in prison.

 

Charleston Williams

Relationship to Josiah: Father

Conviction: Injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission

Sentence: 40 years in prison

 

Crystal Williams

Relationship: Stepmother

Conviction: Injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission

Sentence: 99 years in prison

 

Gloria Proo

Relationship: Stepgrandmother and caregiver

Conviction: Injury to a child by omission

Sentence: 88 years in prison and a $10,000 fine

FOREVER REMEMBERED

There are two sets of images that tell the story of Josiah Williams. One shows what abuse did to him. Those photographs became evidence in court. They showed an emaciated five year old covered in injuries. The other photographs show Josiah before those final months. That is the Josiah his family wants remembered. A little boy with a huge smile. A preschooler who loved being outside. A child who watched SpongeBob. A little boy dressed as Woody. A grandson who had once been healthy and thriving. His grandmother spent months trying to find him. Years after his death, she was still speaking his name and using his story to advocate for abused children. She has said that one of the most painful things she carries is the belief that Josiah died thinking he was unwanted and unloved because that was what the adults abusing him had made him believe. Josiah was wrong. He was loved. There were people looking for him. There were people who wanted him. And there are people who continue speaking his name years after his death. Josiah should have had the opportunity to discover that for himself. He should have gone back to preschool. He should have played outside. He should have watched more cartoons and worn more Halloween costumes. He should have grown beyond five years old. Abuse Angels remembers Josiah Williams. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.