Investigation Into Child Sex Abuse Reveals Human Remains and an Altar

UPDATE: August 27th-

Yesterday Williams appeared in court for his detention hearing.

Essex County Prosecutor Michael Morris argued that the fact that a skeletal torso was found in his home, evidently dressed with a tie and suit jacket, “raise the specter of a person out of step with society and dangerous to society.”

Williams' public defender, Susan Friedman argued that he could be released to home confinement and electronic monitoring as he had resided in the same place for eighteen years and only had one disorderly charge in his record that dated back more than ten years.

Citing “reams of text messages” describe the alleged abuse which Morris had mentioned, and alleged corroborating statements by Williams himself, Court Judge Ronald Wigler noted that the minimum sentence if convicted for the most serious charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13 would be 25 years.  Judge Wigler ordered Williams held over for trial.

He is next due in court on September 16th.

A father called Newark Police in Essex County to report that his son, now 13 years old, had been abused at the hands of Robert Frank Williams, 53 over a several month period beginning in 2018.  On August 15th, Newark police served a search warrant at Williams' first floor apartment to see if there was anything to substantiate the claims of abuse.

None of the officers were prepared for what they would find inside.

The “altar to an unknown deity,” as described by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, was odd enough.  But inside the closet, investigators found a bin containing mummified human remains.  In separate locations, police also recovered a spine with intact rib cage, and a bag of bones.  It is believed that all the bones belonged to the same individual.

Police were quick to say that they were unsure if there was any connection between the remains and the abuse, and that they had no confirmed identity yet, for whom the remains belonged to, but the county prosecutor said that they were looking into that.   According to the New York Times, Williams told authorities that he had purchased the remains and used them for religious rituals.

Neighbors are now beginning to speculate though, as to whether or not the discovered remains were the source of a strong smell that seemed to linger for several weeks.  Officials though, said that they cannot confirm that there was a link between the smell and Williams.

Williams was arrested on August 15th, and appeared in court yesterday, the 23rd.  The charges against him include first-degree aggravated sexual assault for engaging in an act of penetration upon on a child younger than 13 years of age; first-degree endangering the welfare of a child for the production of items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child; second-degree sexual assault upon a victim who was between the ages of 13 and 15; second-degree luring; third-degree endangering the welfare of a child for engaging in sexual conduct with a child; and second-degree desecration of human remains.  A search though, of the Essex Jail inmates merely lists a slew of receiving known stolen property charges.