Affidavit: Southwest Florida baby was smothered, had cocaine in system

A 2-month-old girl who died in Naples in September was smothered and had cocaine in her system, according to court records.

The baby's mother, Krystal Ann Williams, was arrested in Fort Myers by the U.S. Marshals Service last week on a Collier County Sheriff's Office warrant and faces a third-degree murder charge related to her daughter's death. Williams, 31, also faces charges of child abuse and manslaughter.

An arrest affidavit filed with the county clerk's office details how the baby died and what evidence led to Williams' arrest.

Collier deputies responded Sept. 12 to a call about a medical emergency at a gas station in the 2100 block of U.S. 41 in East Naples about noon. Williams and a friend said they had tried to drive the baby to a hospital but that the car ran out of gas.

The baby, Abigail Benavides, was unconscious and not breathing; deputies performed CPR until an ambulance arrived. The girl was taken to NCH Baker Hospital Downtown, where she died, six days shy of being 2 months old.

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"I don't know what happened. We have two other children together, and she was always great with them," said Narset Benavides, Abigail's father. "It's terrible, but that's life."

Benavides said he and Williams dated for 10 years and that he had main custody of their two older children, while Williams had custody of Abigail. He had not been around recently, he said, and the two were not living together.

"There's nothing I can say or do to change anything because it's done," Benavides said. "Now we have to wait for the court to make its decision."

The day Abigail died, detectives interviewed the friend who drove Williams and Abigail. The woman told investigators that Williams was homeless and that she let her and Abigail stay at her home, the affidavit states.

The friend told investigators that she was worried about Williams' drug use and her ability to care for the baby, according to the affidavit.

The woman said she tried to be a good friend but that "in the best interest" of the girl, she called the state Department of Children and Families twice in the two weeks that Williams had been living there, court records state. The woman told investigators that Williams' drugs of choice were Xanax and heroin.

The night before Abigail died, Williams and her friend went out in Fort Myers with the baby and returned home about 1:30 a.m., officials said. The woman later heard the baby crying, as she did every night, and tried to wake Williams about 8 a.m. and again about 11 a.m.

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Williams told investigators that after taking a nap with the baby, she woke between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Williams thought something was wrong with the baby, so she shook her a little and called for her but got no response, the affidavit states.

Williams had her friend drive her and the baby to a hospital, officials said. The friend realized she was driving the wrong way, made a U-turn and soon afterward ran out of gas, officials said.

Investigators determined that about 30 minutes passed between the time the women left the house with the baby and the time they called 911. 

Investigators also interviewed Williams, and she confirmed that she and her friend went out the night before with the baby.

Williams told detectives she fed Abigail between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.; she went back to sleep and found Abigail unresponsive about 11 a.m., the affidavit states.

During the interview, Williams denied using drugs but later said she used Xanax and marijuana, officials reported.

Detectives searched the bedroom of the home where Williams was staying with her friend and found a small plastic zip-close bag with a white, powdery substance inside, according to the report.

The bag was in a bowl next to a bed, and the bowl also had a white, powdery substance inside, officials say. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab found the powder inside the bag and bowl tested positive for cocaine, according to the affidavit.

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Toxicology exams showed that the baby had cocaine in her system at the time of her death, the affidavit states.

The Medical Examiner's Office ruled out that the baby had second-hand exposure to the drug, officials said.

Detectives also executed a warrant for a blood sample from Williams, which found she had marijuana, cocaine and Xanax in her system the day the baby died, according to the affidavit.

In mid-October 2016, Williams went to Lee Memorial Hospital for treatment not specified in the affidavit.

She started crying while being treated by a registered nurse and an emergency room technician and told them she didn’t mean to kill the baby, the report states.

She told the medical staff that the baby would not stop crying, so Williams put her hand over her mouth to silence her, according to the affidavit.

The medical staff called the Fort Myers Police Department and filed an incident report, the affidavit states.

Abigail’s name was redacted from the affidavit, but she has been identified in other Sheriff’s Office reports.

The Medical Examiner’s Office has not released the autopsy findings, but the affidavit states Abigail’s cause of death was smothering. Cocaine contributed to her death, and the manner of death was homicide, officials said.

Williams was first held at the Lee County Jail, then transferred to the Naples Jail Center. She was still in custody Wednesday evening, with bail set at $450,000.