‘I’ll search to the ends of the earth for her’: Florida father pleading for answers about missing 11-year-old daughter
By Jade Jarvis
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RIVIERA BEACH, Florida (WPBF) — A father is pleading for answers tonight about his missing 11-year-old daughter.
Jaliyah Williams hasn’t returned home since she vanished from her bus stop in Riviera Beach last Thursday.
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“I’ll search to the ends of the earth for her. I don’t care where it is. I’ll go anywhere for her. I just want my daughter. That’s it,” Willis Williams, Jaliyah’s father, said.
Williams believes an estranged relative took Jaliyah from that bus stop and possibly drove her across state lines.
Palm Beach Schools Police Department confirmed that the case appears to be a custody issue and that police are searching outside of Palm Beach County.
“The crazy part is, I had this conversation with my daughter prior to me dropping her off,” Williams said. “I said, ‘Jaliyah, don’t be no fool for nobody. Don’t trust anybody.’ It was in my heart to say this to her; this was the morning that I dropped her off.”
Williams dropped Jaliyah off at her bus stop at Lakeshore Drive and East 27th Street in Riviera Beach around 8:40 a.m.
He said there were other kids standing there, so he felt safe leaving her there to wait for the bus.
But when he returned at 4:30 p.m. to pick her up, he said other kids got off the bus, but not Jaliyah.
“Something just said, ‘Ok, you know what, let me call to the school. See if they’re having a, you know, a late bus run,’ and they said, ‘No, all the buses came out. She’s not here on campus,’” Williams said.
Williams said he received word that an estranged relative drove to Florida from Georgia to take Jaliyah and that’s where he believes she is now.
He has this message for his daughter.
“Just come home. I’m not mad. I just want you home. I just want you here next to me. I’m used to you here with me. You’ve been with me since 2018,” Williams said.
Jaliyah is 5 feet, 2 inches, 125 pounds, and has brown eyes and long brown hair worn in braids. She was last seen wearing a turquoise polo shirt with arrow 87 on it, khaki shorts, with pink, grey, and white Nike shoes. She was also carrying a pink Nike backpack.
Anyone with any information about Jaliyah should call Palm Beach County Schools Police Department at 561-434-8700 or CrimeStoppers at 800-458-TIPS.
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