Miami-Dade mom accused of confining 9-year-old for years; police say girl would ‘beg’ to eat

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 9-year-old girl was left unable to read or write and would regularly have to “beg” for food after being confined inside of a southwest Miami-Dade home for “years,” according to police.

Miami-Dade police accused her mother, Kelli McGriff-Williams, 42, of keeping her daughter inside the home in the 12000 block of Southwest 95th Court for the majority of the young girl’s life.

According to an arrest report, the confinement lasted from 2017 to 2023 until the Florida Department of Children and Families intervened on Aug. 26.

Police said besides failing to provide adequate food and an education to the girl, McGriff-Williams didn’t even take the girl out of their Kendall home to take her to the doctor, despite occasions where she was “very ill.”

Authorities Baker Acted McGriff-Williams after arriving to the house on Aug. 26, the report states.

Police spoke to the girl’s father on Aug. 30, the report states. Detectives wrote that he confirmed the allegations and told police he’s been trying to get custody of his daughter through the court system since 2017.

Workers with the University of Miami’s child protection team said, after interviewing the girl, that what she experienced constituted “child neglect, medical neglect, mental injury and educational neglect.”

The report doesn’t state whether DCF placed the girl in its custody or that of her father, or another relative or agency.

Police officially arrested McGriff-Williams on Friday as she was about to be discharged from Jackson South Medical Center’s behavioral health unit.

McGriff-Williams was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $5,000 bond for a child neglect charge, according to jail records.

If you suspect a case of child neglect or abuse, call the Florida Department of Children and Families’ 24-hour hotline at 800-962-2873 or report the case online.