Malayshia Alford: Philly community grieves after foster mother charged with 10-year-old's murder

Tonight, heavy hearts all across Philadelphia mourning an innocent 10-year-old girl, Malisha Alford, who police say was killed by her foster mother. This is the News at Five. I'm Dawn Timoney. Police sharing this mugshot of Caprice Williams. The 36-year-old now faces numerous charges, including murder and abuse of a corpse. Malisha Alford went missing about two weeks ago after several days of searching law enforcement, finding her body in the One trunk of a car in New Jersey on Wednesday night. Our Jennifer Lee is live in West Philadelphia, where many continue to pay their respects. And Jen's support is also available at the schools that this little girl attended. Yes, support is available for those students, teachers, and staff who personally knew Malaysia Alford. And we know that the support is available at all of those other schools that she was connected with. And this is where the 10-year-old girl lived with her foster mother, who is now accused of her murder. We know total strangers have been stopping by to pay their respects, of course, bringing balloons, flowers, and other remembrance mementos. And we've also seen those who knew and loved the little girl stop by as well. This is a total shock. Maria Stroop, a director at TGR Learning Lab, says Malaysia Alford was a significant part of their after-school and summer camp programs. She stopped by the 10-year-old's home where there's a growing memorial in her honor. An explosion of joy and silly and very... Very... Driven to understand, because we're a STEAM-based lab, so there's a lot of learning and engagement, and she was always vested and focused and brought a lot of joy and happiness to our program. Authorities say Alfred was tragically found in the trunk of a car late Wednesday night. Prosecutors believe she had been dead for some time, noting the last time she was seen alive was Thursday, October 22nd. She did not show up to school the following day at Lamberton Public School and was reported missing the following Monday. It's a village, and the village shows up. Dr. Robin Cooper of CASA, the union representing principals, says they're here to provide support for the principal of Lamberton, Who's now leading a school. School in mourning. Superintendent Tony Wallington also seen paying a visit to Alfred School community as well as the mayor. I would say shock, disbelief, just really trying to understand the staff and the students are resilient. You know, staff, they are really working with their children. It's just it's a lot going on. It's a lot of supports in the school. It's lots of support. Cooper says support is also being shared at Cassidy Academics Plus, where Alfred's foster mother, Caprice Williams, worked as a fifth grade teacher, according to the school website. Williams is accused of homicide and now faces several charges, including murder and abuse of a corpse. This is a travesty. Back at Alfred's foster home in West Philadelphia, an outpouring of love from community near and far now left devastated by an innocent girl's murder. When you hear of a child who is kind and gentle and soft-spoken and who hurts no one, then you say to yourself, then what happened here? We're also in touch with the teachers union and we know the president also made visits to Alfred School as well as the Foster Mother School to provide support to those teachers who were impacted at this time. Of course, many broken hearted people stopping by the memorial site that continues to grow. And Dawn, a lot of people are telling me they're thinking about this 10 year old's classmates and friends. Yeah, so heartbreaking and so many people are just I'm just touched by this story. Thanks, Jen. Let's get out to our Chris O'Connell in East Oak Lane. Chris, we were tracking the mayor today after her statement on the tragedy. That's right, Dawn. We tried to get the mayor for the comment, and she did speak to that today. But just everyone with the same thoughts. This was a child that was supposed to be safe, was supposed to be cared for. Now she is dead. Her foster mother. Charged with her murder and many of us having those same questions remain about the safeguards of the foster care system and trying to prevent something like this from happening again. Of course, we all know the heartbreaking story by now. The search for 10-year-old Malaysia Alford ended in that heartbreaking discovery in Lindenwald, New Jersey, inside an apartment complex. Now the woman who was supposed to care for her accused of killing her. Her prosecutors, you know her by now, foster. Sister-mother 36-year-old Caprice Williams charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child, abuse of a corpse, and other offenses. Now, this little girl whose disappearance has captured the hearts of many in our area, including Mayor Sherelle Parker. She appeared at an event here in East Oak Lane today. She says the news is deeply painful. She paused for a moment of silence. Thanks As we gather here today, I want us to start. By holding 10-year-old Malaysia Alford for and her family in our thoughts and prayers. watching. Yes. As a mom, I want you to know, and I've talked to so many other parents and grandparents and just folks who feel exactly the same way. This one has shaken me. It has shaken us. It has shaken our city. At its core and communicating with the school community, the classmates, everyone who is grieving her loss. I want our electeds, I'm going to ask Rep. Bellman and Council Member Phillips to just move forward with me as you will. As we just stand in a moment of silence for Malaysia and her family. Now tonight those questions extend beyond the criminal case into the safeguards of the foster care system and how this could have happened. We have reached out several times to Philadelphia Department of Human Services. None of our questions yet have been answered. We were also told by the mayor's press office that the mayor would be available to us to answer some of these questions, but she declined tonight, Dawn. All right, Chris, so many questions and such heartbreak. Thank you. And we'll have continuing coverage on this investigation as new information comes in. And as police search for answers, we, of course, will bring you the very latest.