The US state of Florida will be seeking the death penalty against a Jamaican couple facing murder charges after the death of the woman’s 10-year-old son from “unimaginable abuse”.

Ten-year-old Xavier Williams was tied to a ladder, beaten, and had a 10-pound dumbbell dropped onto his stomach. His intestines ruptured, and although doctors tried to save his life, the youngster died a month later, on March 21, 2025, at a children’s hospital in Orlando, Florida.

His mother, 37-year-old Kimberly Mills, a former resident of Rose Heights in St James, and her boyfriend, 36-year-old Andre Walker, have been indicted as principals to first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, as well as aggravated child abuse.

Keniel Williams, Xavier’s father, was in the US state of Connecticut when he received the devastating call that his son had been hospitalised. He boarded a plane, his body trembling, tears streaming down his face as he made his way to Florida to see his son, only to arrive and learn of the alleged abuse he had suffered.

“I received the call at 2:35 a.m. on February 23rd, and I booked a 6 a.m. flight from Connecticut to Orlando,” Williams recalled.

A native of Montego Bay, St James, and a past student of Herbert Morrison Technical High School, Williams said by the time he landed in Florida, his son was gone.

“I cried the entire flight,” Williams recalled. “I was just crying like a baby.”

Williams and his wife had been friends since their high school days in Jamaica. He had been the one to bring her to the United States, helping to build a life together. But he said once she received her US passport, she left him. The divorce that followed stripped him of nearly everything – their home, stability, and, eventually, even his children.

Their two boys, Xavier and his eight-year-old brother, were living with their mother in Florida. But behind closed doors, their home became a house of horrors.

Investigators say the abuse had been ongoing for months. Xavier suffered relentless beatings that left his small body battered and broken. His younger brother, too, was being abused, but he survived.

Unthinkable brutality

When Xavier was finally taken to the hospital, his injuries were so severe that doctors immediately alerted law enforcement. His liver and kidneys were damaged, his body bore the evidence of unthinkable brutality.

Adding to Williams’ heartbreak, his efforts to claim his son’s body and bring his surviving child home have been met with more hurdles. His ex-wife, a nurse, was fired immediately after her arrest, and her insurance was cancelled. The loss of coverage left Williams scrambling to find the means to pay for medical bills, burial and transportation of Xavier’s body back to Connecticut and bring his surviving son to safety.

“They told me there was no insurance to cover anything because she was terminated,” Williams explained. “I had nothing in place for this. Nothing could have prepared me for this.”

Desperate, Williams’ sister, Cameil, has turned to the kindness of others, launching a GoFundMe campaign to cover the costs of bringing Xavier’s remains home and relocating his surviving brother to Connecticut.

Florida’s Department of Children and Families initially considered placing the younger boy in foster care, as Mills falsely claimed they had no family. Only after hours of questioning did the authorities finally receive Williams’ contact information, allowing him to claim his son.

“How could she do this?” he asked, his voice thick with grief. “I never imagined she had this in her.”

For Williams, who has remained in Florida since February, no legal sentence can undo the pain of losing his child.

“I just want to bring my boy home,” he said. “He deserves to rest in peace.”

During a press briefing last month, Detective Courtni Sullivan, of the Tavares Police Department, said it is believed that Mills and Walker, who apparently had been dating for two months, attempted to clean up evidence at their residence after taking the 10-year-old to the hospital.

“They did a really bad job,” Sullivan noted, saying investigators recovered several crucial pieces of evidence despite the attempted cover-up.

Children were too afraid to speak out

Sullivan shared that Mills allegedly went to great lengths to conceal the abuse, dressing the children in long sleeves to hide injuries and instructing them never to speak about what was happening. Both boys continued attending school during the abuse, but teachers never reported concerns to the police, because it seemed the children were too afraid to speak out.

“Mills ensured they told absolutely no one. She was methodical in what they wore and what they said,” Sullivan said, speaking on behalf of the department’s small team.

“As detectives, we don’t just charge people. We build cases to make sure they (offenders) stay in jail,” she said. “This case is especially sensitive. Don’t mess with kids. Period.”

Last Thursday, the State Attorney’s Office, while announcing they will seek the death penalty against Mills and Walker, outlined that count one, which applies to both defendants, states that on or about February 22, 2025, while unlawfully engaged in child abuse, resulting in the murder of Xavier Williams.

Counts two and three relate to alleged physical child abuse between December 24, 2024, and February 20, 2025, including striking Xavier with a dumbbell, causing great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement. Other objects, including boxing gloves, flashlights, and a copper rod, are also listed as being used to abuse the child.

“The other thing I want to mention at this point is we are seeking the death penalty as to both defendants in this case. As you know, for capital punishment, for the most heinous of crimes and for the most vulnerable of victims, and that’s what we have in this particular case,” said Fifth Judicial Circuit State’s Attorney William M. Gladson.

Walker and Mills have both submitted written not-guilty pleas in their case.