Malayshia Alford: Questions remain as previous abuse allegations against foster mom emerge

You're streaming along with us from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey. You for sure have heard Malaysia Alford's name by now, the 10-year-old girl in Philadelphia that police believe was murdered by her own foster mother. Kelly Rule has been keeping us up to date on everything we know about this so far. She's outside that little girl's home right now. Kelly, can you talk to us about what you're seeing behind you and what's been happening out there today? I can tell you that people are still coming today to visit and to drop off balloons, flowers, light candles. In fact, there's someone here right now. It's been active all day long, and this has kind of been a place for people to come and grieve and feel like they can do something in a situation where a lot of us still have so many questions. In fact, we just spoke with... A mother of a sixth grade student who said that her son had Caprice Williams as a teacher for fifth grade spent an entire year in her classroom and she said she is horrified to say the least and just has, again, so many questions as to how this happened. So just to recap what we know at this point, again, we know that investigators announced charges against Malaysia Alford's foster mother, 36-year-old Caprice Williams, but they have They have not announced any additional arrests or charges. It's still unclear if they will at any point, but we do know that the search for her began back on October 26th. That was the day that Williams reported Malaysia missing, according to investigators. Apparently, she told them she walked to the bus stop for school but did not return home. But investigators then learned she never went to school that day or the Friday before on October 23rd. The DA's office says the last time Malaysia was seen alive was that Thursday, October 22nd. 22nd, investigators say they recovered video that showed what appeared to be her. Her body being removed from the home in a bag and law enforcement sources told Fox 29 a relative of Williams led investigators to a vehicle in Lindenwald, New Jersey, and that's where they found Malaysia's body in the trunk. The DA's office announced last week that the medical examiner ruled that she died from blunt force trauma and said that there was evidence of abuse. And again, as for that person seen on video allegedly carrying Malaysia out of the home and who led investigators to her body so far, no arrests. But we did reach out to the school district of Philadelphia to see if they can say anything about reported absences for her. Again, a lot of questions, including from people that, again, have Williams as a teacher. And for that parent, she said to see her name and face on the news was unlike anything she's ever experienced. Kelly, again, I appreciate you for getting us updated on everything we need to know so far. You can see someone right behind you adding to the memorial that's growing outside of that home. All those pink balloons. It's very sad that we've lost such a young, precious little girl, and she was so cute. But I want to keep people understanding that the community has come out in numbers for her. So from Kelly, we'll see you a little bit later. I want to turn things over to Chris O'Connell, who's also been keeping up with this investigation. It has a lot of people scratching their heads and wondering more about the foster care system. They've got a lot of questions for how this could have even happened. Chris, you're kind of tackling the investigation from that angle. Tell us what you've learned so far today. Well, we're looking into pretty much the big question, how something like this could have happened, Judea, how a woman with a history of reported incidents of child abuse has custody and has foster care of another child. That's exactly what seems to be the case in the case of, go to the video, first of all. The question is, what agencies were responsible for Malaysia's safety? What information did they know? We did talk to an attorney representing Malaysia's estate. They tell us the foster mother's home had recently been closed to children following the finding of abuse. He wants to know how another agency was then able to approve her. To foster again, of course, we're talking about 36-year-old Caprice Williams, now charged with murder after Malaysia's body was found last week. We all know that. The attorney for the estate, Nadeem Bazar, says he was already investigating allegations that Malaysia had been abused in an earlier foster home before placement with Williams. He said... He also handled a separate case involving another child in Williams' care who suffered malnutrition and traumatic brain injury. Bazar says that case led to an abuse finding and eventually the closure of that foster home. The investigation was done. There was an indicated finding of abuse. The agency that certified her initially. Closed her home and the reason why they closed her home was the indicated finding of abuse, but somehow she got in touch with a new agency that allowed her to continue to foster children. The three agencies that we're trying to ask questions to are the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. They gave us a basic response, but however, did not give us any information in terms of this particular case. We're also outside the Delaware County State Office of Pennsylvania Mentor. They are a foster care agency that also had custody of Malaysia. We're trying to get information from them as well, as well as Catholic Community Services, an offshoot of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. They tell us, of course, their thoughts and prayers are with them. And they sent us a statement today saying they had no formal relationship with the PA mentor, foster agency. They were part of their case management. And of course, we're digging into all the responses we get from them. We're going to see if we can get more from Pennsylvania Mentor as the questions still remain how something like this could have happened to this precious little girl, Judea. Yeah, I mean, Chris, you're asking the right questions. You're asking the right people. Our audience is chiming in with more stuff that they still want to know. Keep in mind, this investigation is in its early stages. And just again, I want to reiterate, you've already told us. Kelly has also told us as well, but some people are wondering in the chat, the foster mom is in custody. So, Chris, thank you so much for bringing us this angle. We'll keep our eyes on it and maybe check in with you a little later on. And that was Chris O'Connell reporting for us, sharing the other side of things where a lot of people have been wondering, was this little girl failed? She was in the foster care system. How is she under the care of someone who has been accused of? Hurting another child, a four-year-old child. So we'll continue to ask the questions that you want us to. We'll continue to try and get you guys the answers that you guys are looking for. And we will also continue to say her name, 10-year-old Malaysia Alford, gone entirely way too soon. But just another beautiful soul that they're telling us about. Her family has described her as being like a... Curious kid, not the kind of person that would get in trouble or certainly not the kind of person would run away. Remember, this all started out as a missing persons case that quickly developed into something more until unfortunately we did end up, according to police, finding her body out in New Jersey. But again, we're not done asking questions. We will continue to bring you guys this story. Let us know anything else that you want to know.