REMEMBERING RODRICUS

Rodricus Fred Williams was two years old.

His mother, Shaneka Washington, remembered a little boy who was almost always smiling.

He loved to sing.

He loved cars.

On his second birthday, Rodricus climbed into a toy car with his cousins and made sure he was the one behind the wheel.

His mother remembered that even when Rodricus met someone he did not know, some of his favorite words to say were, “I love you.”

Photographs from his short life show the infectious smile his family remembered.

Those are the pieces of Rodricus that deserve to remain attached to his name.

A singing little boy.

A toddler fascinated by cars.

A child who freely told people he loved them.

He was only two years old when the adults responsible for caring for him subjected him to abuse, denied him medical attention and then tried to hide what had happened to him.

RODRICUS’S STORY

In May 2010, Rodricus went to spend the summer with his father, Roger Anthony Williams, and Roger’s live-in girlfriend, Grace Nichole Trotman.

Rodricus’s mother expected her little boy to come home.

Instead, during his time in their care, Rodricus was physically abused.

Grace later testified that she witnessed Roger repeatedly hit his two year old son with closed fists.

She also admitted striking Rodricus herself.

Rodricus had an existing medical condition that required monitoring.

But when his health deteriorated, medical help was deliberately withheld.

Grace later testified that after Rodricus suffered a seizure, Roger refused to allow her to call an ambulance.

Roger subsequently acknowledged to investigators that he knew Rodricus had an ongoing medical condition and admitted that neither he nor Grace obtained medical treatment when the little boy became ill.

Rodricus died in June 2010.

An autopsy would later determine that his death was caused by blunt force trauma to his head.

After Rodricus died, Roger and Grace did not call 911.

They did not report his death.

Instead, they concealed his body.

Rodricus was placed headfirst inside a plastic trash can.

His body was covered with hundreds of pounds of concrete.

The container was then transported to an abandoned mobile home in rural Orangeburg County and left there.

For weeks, Rodricus’s mother did not know her son was dead.

Then she called wanting to see him.

Roger and Grace needed an explanation for why Rodricus could not be returned to her.

On July 6, 2010, they created one.

They claimed Rodricus had fallen into Charleston Harbor from the Battery in downtown Charleston.

The report triggered an enormous emergency response.

Police officers, rescue crews, boats and helicopters searched for a two year old child who had never been in the water.

Investigators soon realized the story was false.

Information obtained during questioning eventually led authorities more than 50 miles away to an abandoned mobile home near Bowman.

Behind it was an extraordinarily heavy trash container.

A backhoe was needed to lift it.

Inside, investigators found the remains of a small child wrapped in plastic and encased beneath hundreds of pounds of concrete.

DNA testing confirmed what Rodricus’s family already feared.

The little boy inside was Rodricus Fred Williams.

WARNING SIGNS

Evidence presented after Rodricus’s death showed that the violence against him was not limited to one unexplained moment.

Investigators learned that Rodricus had previously been struck.

Grace later testified that she saw Roger hit him numerous times with closed fists.

Rodricus also had an ongoing health condition that required monitoring.

When he became seriously ill and suffered a seizure, he needed medical attention.

Instead, the adults responsible for him withheld it.

A two year old child cannot call an ambulance.

He cannot leave an abusive home.

He cannot explain to doctors what has been happening when the adults around him deliberately prevent doctors from seeing him.

Rodricus depended entirely on his caregivers to recognize his suffering and seek help.

They did not.

JUSTICE FOR RODRICUS

Both Roger Williams and Grace Trotman were charged with homicide by child abuse following the discovery of Rodricus’s body.

Grace eventually agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

She pleaded guilty to homicide by child abuse and desecration of human remains.

She later testified against Roger.

Roger admitted concealing his son’s body but denied causing the abuse that killed him.

The jury heard testimony that Roger repeatedly struck Rodricus and refused to allow an ambulance to be called after the little boy suffered a seizure.

On October 11, 2012, the jury found Roger guilty of homicide by child abuse and unlawful conduct toward a child.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Grace was sentenced later that year.

She received 15 years in prison for homicide by child abuse and 10 years for desecration of human remains.

Roger Anthony Williams

Relationship to Rodricus: Father

Convictions: Homicide by child abuse and unlawful conduct toward a child

Outcome: Guilty at trial

Sentence: Life in prison without parole

Grace Nichole Trotman

Relationship to Rodricus: Father’s girlfriend and caregiver

Convictions: Homicide by child abuse and desecration of human remains

Outcome: Guilty plea

Sentence: 15 years for homicide by child abuse and 10 years for desecration of human remains

FOREVER REMEMBERED

For weeks after Rodricus died, the people who loved him did not know where he was.

Then strangers searched Charleston Harbor for him.

Boats crossed the water.

Rescue workers searched from the shore.

A helicopter searched from above.

But Rodricus was never there.

The truth was hidden miles away beneath hundreds of pounds of concrete.

That horrifying ending became the image attached to his case.

It should not become the image that defines his life.

Rodricus was the smiling little boy in his mother’s photographs.

He was the toddler who loved cars so much that when he climbed into one with his cousins, he wanted the driver’s seat.

He was always singing.

He had toys waiting for him that he would never get to open.

And he was a little boy whose favorite words included three words every child deserves to hear in return.

“I love you.”

Rodricus deserved to come home to his mother.

He deserved medical care when he was sick.

He deserved adults who protected his tiny body instead of hurting it.

He deserved a third birthday and another chance to climb behind the wheel of a toy car.

Rodricus Fred Williams lived only two years.

But those two years contained smiles, songs, toys, family and love.

That is part of his story too.

Abuse Angels remembers Rodricus Fred Williams.

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.