The missing mom who left her 12-year-old daughter at the Evans Publix on Monday afternoon was found just before midnight across the street at a Parker’s Kitchen, where she was arrested, authorities said.
Samantha Renee Williams, 36, is being held on a charge of reckless conduct at the Columbia County Detention Center. Bond was set at $1,100.
Her bizarre disappearance Monday at the Publix in Riverwood while shopping with her daughter, Skyler, went viral online, drawing comparisons to the Susan Rhodes case.
According to sheriff’s Maj. Steve Morris, Williams was spotted in a car outside the Parker’s Kitchen on Washington Road near the grocery store just before midnight. Deputies responded to a call about her and took her into custody. She admitted to leaving her daughter at the grocery store, saying she thought the girl’s grandfather was coming to pick her up.
In an earlier release Monday, Maj. Morris said officers were called to the Publix around 2 p.m. Monday about a missing person. According to her daughter, Williams said “she was going to get ice cream and for her to stay put and that she would be back to get her.” But Williams never returned.
Her vehicle was later located in the parking lot, and Williams was seen on camera at Fury’s Ferry and Evans to Lock Road at a Circle K, where she entered an Uber vehicle last seen headed towards South Carolina.
A sheriff’s report provides new details. The daughter came to a store manager looking for her mom and said her mom had told her to sit and that someone was “trying to kill her,” the report says.
Authorities later spoke to the grandmother, Audrey Young, who said Williams does not use drugs or have any mental conditions, to her knowledge. Skyler was released to her and a case with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services was opened.
Maj. Morris said Williams has a listed address on Wagener Road in Aiken, but she identified as homeless.
