"If I had known that he was capable of it, she never would have gone," the girl's mother said. "I feel like I let her down."
Filled with regret, this single mother told us she let her five-year-old daughter spend just one week with a family member. But, that's when Harris County deputies say he took advantage, sexually assaulting the young girl and capturing it on camera.
"I was outraged. I was hurt. I cried. I shook. I kept asking why? Why her? What did she do to him? I wanted to kill him," the mother said.
Court records show Rodney Williams was arrested after his common-law wife found a memory card hidden in his shoe with pictures of the victim being assaulted by him and an unidentified woman. Records also indicate there are pictures of the girl standing naked with several other girls her age, prompting her mother to believe she's not the only victim.
She said, "There are other parents out there whose children were hurt by him."
The five-year-old who family members say loved dolls and playing dress up is in the custody of Child Protective Services until a judge determines it is safe for her return home. After an emotional visit with family last Friday, her mother hopes that decision comes soon.
"She was hiding under tables when they came in to tell us it was time to go," her mom said. "She told them they couldn't drag her out. She kept saying, 'Please take me home, take me home.' And I couldn't."
The girl's mother says the state has told her she will have to find a place of her own, suitable transportation and a job, before she can be reunited with her daughter. She is working on all of those things, but worries her five-year-old is not getting the counseling or support she needs right now.
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