Woman admits role in child's death

A mother of two who helped her boyfriend wrap his 2-year-old son's body in garbage bags, stuff it into a plastic trash can and fill the can with 400 pounds of cement in 2010 pleaded guilty last week to her role in the child's death.

Grace Trotman, 26, on Thursday pleaded guilty in Charleston County Circuit Court to one count of homicide by child abuse and one count of desecration of human remains. She faces 20 years to life in prison on the homicide charge and as much as 10 years in prison on the desecration charge.

The Berkeley County coroner ruled that 2-year-old Rodricus Fred Williams died of blunt trauma to the head.

Trotman will be sentenced later, said Deputy Solicitor Bryan Alfaro; a date has not been set.

Authorities said the child died after his father, Roger "Tony" Williams, 31, refused to get him medical help and forbade Trotman from contacting a doctor. The pair dumped the dead child behind an abandoned mobile home in Orangeburg County, officials said, and then spun a tale about the boy falling into Charleston Harbor while strolling along The Battery seawall downtown.

Trotman called police July 6, saying Rodricus disappeared during the outing. Police, fire and Coast Guard personnel launched a massive search for the child that lasted 12 hours and cost about $58,000.

In reality, the child had been dead about a month, and Williams concocted the story because the boy's mother was headed to town to see him. Williams shared custody of the toddler with Rodricus' mother, Columbia resident Shaneka Washington.

Arrest reports state Rodricus died around June 6, 2010, while in Trotman's care at her Summerville home. Trotman reportedly called Williams about a medical problem with the boy, but Williams told her not to seek help and then, when he returned home, he refused to take action himself, according to arrest reports.

Charges against Williams are pending in the Berkeley County court system. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said she expects Williams to stand trial before July.

Trotman's attorney, Keith Bolus, said his client's sentencing hearing would take place after Williams' trial. Trotman signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in which they agreed to drop a charge of unlawful conduct toward a child in exchange for her guilty plea on the other two charges.

Trotman also agreed to cooperate with authorities in exchange for a 20-year sentence on each remaining charge, to be served concurrently.

Trotman eventually led authorities to the cement-filled trash can behind an abandoned house in Bowman, where investigators asked a farmer to help them hoist the cement-laden tomb with a backhoe.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or on Twitter at @allysonjbird.