Head trauma cause of death

Two-year-old Rodricus Williams died from blunt trauma to the head before his tiny body was placed in a trash can filled with 400 pounds of cement, authorities said Thursday night.

Berkeley County Coroner Glenn Rhoads said he received the child's autopsy report Wednesday, but the only information he can release is the cause of the death.

Rodricus' father, Roger "Tony" Williams, is accused of refusing to get medical care for him after the boy's health failed on June 7 in Summerville. Investigators have said the boy's father and his girlfriend Grace Trotman dumped the child in a cement-filled can behind an abandoned house in Bowman.

Arrest affidavits indicate that Rodricus died in early June "from injuries and/or physical distress" while he was in Trotman's care at her Longbourne Way home.

Authorities said the pair then concocted a story about the toddler falling into Charleston Harbor on July 6 while walking along The Battery sea wall. That led to an exhaustive, 12-hour search by police, fire and Coast Guard personnel that cost nearly $58,000 to conduct before officials discovered the truth about Rodricus' disappearance, according to city officials.

Williams and Trotman remain in custody at the county jail on charges of homicide by child abuse, said Dan Moon, public information officer for the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office. The charge carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

Moon also said that the autopsy report will have no impact on those charges.

Both Williams and Trotman are still awaiting bail hearings before a circuit judge. No date for those hearings has been set, Moon said.