Man gets 4 death sentences for kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Georgia girl

PHENIX CITY, Ala. (AP) — A man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 5-year-old Georgia girl has been given four death sentences for the crime.

Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson handed down the sentence Monday against Jeremy Williams who murdered, raped and brutalized Kamarie Holland in 2021, news outlets reported.

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Holland’s mother told police that when she woke up at 5:50 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2021, her daughter was gone and the front door of their Columbus, Georgia, home was open, Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor told reporters. The girl’s body was found late that night at an abandoned home in nearby Phenix City, Alabama where Williams once lived.

A jury found him guilty Friday of four counts of capital murder, among other charges.

Living in Columbus at the time of the murder, Williams raped and strangled Holland after offering her mother $2,500 for Holland to perform oral sex on him, according to testimony given in his trial. Video evidence shown to jurors captured officers finding Holland’s body and of him sexually assaulting the girl. Some jurors began to cry as videos of the assault were shown, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported.

After his conviction, Holland’s father, Corey Holland Sr., urged the judge to order the death penalty for his daughter's killer.

"His life compares nothing to Kamarie’s," he told the newspaper.

Several other witnesses talked about the impact the case had on them and offered their opinion of Williams, WRBL-TV reported.

Williams’ ex-wife called him "soulless" and a now-23-year-old woman who was four when Williams allegedly molested her described him as a "monster."

Taylor told the Ledger-Enquirer this was one of the hardest cases the sheriff’s office has ever had to investigate.

"If there’s ever been somebody that’s deserving of the death penalty its Jeremy Williams," Taylor said after the sentencing. "He’s another type of evil that we in society just don’t need walking around."

In addition to the four death sentences, Johnson sentenced Williams to life in prison for production of obscene material of a child and human trafficking; 20 years for conspiracy of human trafficking; and 10 years for abuse of a corpse.

Though he now sits on death row at Holman State Prison in Atmore, authorities said Williams' execution could be decades away. Russell County District Attorney Rick Chancey speculated it will take a while for the sentence to be carried out.

"At its current pace, I’ll die before he does," Chancey, who is 55, told the television station. "My life expectancy right now is probably shorter than his."

Chancey said he visited the little girl's grave recently and said, "There's no reason that baby should be in the ground."

"I want to remember her, not this joker," said Chancey. "Jeremy is not somebody I want to remember in life."