Mom Kills 2-Year-Old Daughter, Thinks She’s Going Home
“Really? I mean, somebody else she got into. I have multiple people that can vouch for me on that. You had this whole time and this is the story you came up with? The story I heard basically just makes you feel better about the fact that your daughter is dead.”
This absolute mess is Bethany Miller Williams, a 22-year-old mom who thinks she’s going home after feeding her daughter fentanyl. But she doesn’t realize that detectives see right through her lies.
“She got into your what? And ripped it up? Yeah.”
And now she’ll do whatever she can to deflect blame onto anyone but herself, completely losing it in the process.
“Do I have to leave? Can I just talk to you? Do I have to be in here? I’m sorry. Am I hurting your feelings? She certainly deserved better. She did.”
The Incident: July 29th, 2024
On the night of July 29th, 2024, law enforcement in Westwood, Cincinnati, Ohio, responded to a call from an apartment on the west side of the city.
Cincinnati 911: “What is the address of the…” Caller: “I need a cop, hurry. 3 Rucker was laying apartment 1. My niece is not breathing.” 911: “Okay. She’s 3 years old. Okay, your niece is not breathing, is that correct?” Caller: “No, she’s not breathing at all. Her lips are purple.”
Inside, they found Alayna Bradley unresponsive. She was rushed to the hospital where she tragically passed away. What happened in that apartment that day and what didn’t happen would become the centerpiece of this interrogation. Once toxicology reports revealed a lethal amount of drugs in Alayna’s system, her mother, 22-year-old Bethany Williams, was brought in for questioning. And very soon, she would learn that she wouldn’t be leaving a free woman.
“Um, do you remember Dwayne and my name’s Kelly? They told you why you’re here, right?” “No, they told me what my charges are for, so I didn’t put two and two together, you know what I mean? Okay. But I asked them instantly like, am I the only one that has a warrant? Yes, you are. And why is that? Well, we’re going to talk about all that…”
The Interrogation Begins
After reading Bethany her rights, the detective asks about her drug use.
“Any drugs or alcohol in the last 24 hours?” “Um, no alcohol, but I smoked weed and fentanyl.” “Today or last night?” “Today.” “Um, what else? Fentanyl.” “You had that… when did you have that?” “Um, way, way this morning cuz I’m on a methadone program trying to come down, you know what I mean?” “When’s the last time you had fentanyl?” “From forever ago. My clinic got messed up. My insurance got messed up, but I got it back now, so I haven’t been back with everything that’s been going on… It’s been a while, so I need to get back in there.”
Bethany may want to get back into treatment, but having a baby clearly didn’t make her try any harder. If Bethany had been paying any attention, this whole thing could have been avoided.
Detective: “So we’re here to talk about Alayna. And I know you told us some things the night that we were at your house and you didn’t tell us all the things that happened. We know that. Um, we got the report from the coroner’s office, so we know how she died. Do you know how she died?” Bethany: “Was it… was it drugs?” Detective: “It wasn’t… What was it?” Bethany: “I figured. Tell me why you figured. Because I was asleep and my daughter was awake when I was awake, but two other people in my house use the fentanyl. You know what I mean? And they were all in the living room and away from me and I… long story short, I still have… when you guys left. So my daughter didn’t get into mine. You know what I mean?”
Bethany attempts to deflect the blame onto others who were in her apartment.
Detective: “Really? You mean somebody else she got into? And I have multiple people that can vouch for me on that. Well, we’ve talked to everybody that was in the house and their stories are all consistent with each other in that she was in the bedroom with you the whole day.” Bethany: “That’s not what people are telling me and I have video proof of her being… me and my daughter both being awake and outside my room. Yeah, she came out there out of the room for a few minutes with you and then you went back into your room. I’m saying I have multiple videos saying that… proof of me and her being awake and not in my room, you know what I mean? Like I was in my room a lot that day, but I wasn’t in there full time and I was asleep… I was just asking the police officer if you guys have a polygraph test because I want to take one because I’m not lying. My daughter was awake when I was awake and I went to sleep and my daughter was not alive when I woke up. Like something happened when I was asleep and that’s not fair that I’m in trouble for that, you know what I mean?”
Detective: “Well, she’s your child. You have drugs in your home that she was able to access.” Bethany: “I know, but they were not mine that she got into.”
The Truth Comes Out
A report would later state that Bethany flushed the fentanyl down the toilet before officers arrived. And it will turn out that that wasn’t the only thing she’s hiding.
Detective: “You knew you had drugs.” Bethany: “But I didn’t have it out and my daughter didn’t get into my drugs. You know what I mean? So how… why would I have to tell… I understand that, but why would I have to tell you guys that… I should have just told you guys up front where mine was so you knew it wasn’t mine. And I know I should have gotten in trouble, but…” Detective: “What did you do with yours?” Bethany: “I mean, they did something with it. Like as soon as I called for them and told them that she had passed away and to call 911, they were like, ‘Where’s your…’ And I was like, ‘Put up.’ They were like, ‘Give it to me.’ Yes, that’s why I was like, ‘I still have… like mine’s up.'”
Detective: “The whole time and this is the story you came up with?” Bethany: “No, it’s the truth… I just stopped talking to y’all cuz this stuff is making me upset, low key.” Detective: “This whole situation should have made you upset.” Bethany: “It is making me… it is upsetting. I feel like you guys aren’t understanding.” Detective: “Well, we’re trying to understand, but there’s a point in time where you have to realize that you’re… and I know you realize that your daughter died… And that is the time when you tell the truth… you can’t um and it’s a natural reaction and feeling to want to kind of minimize your own involvement and I know that you don’t want to think about the fact that she overdosed on fentanyl and that is your drug of choice. And there was fentanyl in your home. But that is your responsibility. She’s your child. It’s your home. You have a duty to make sure that she has a safe place to live and exist and be a child. Do you understand that?”
The Timeline of Alayna’s Death
Bethany: “What time did she pass away?” Detective: “I can’t tell you that.” Bethany: “Why? Cuz I don’t know, honey. I don’t know.” Detective: “What time do you think she got into it?” Bethany: “I don’t know because my daughter was… when I woke up at 5:00… I think it was about 5:00. She was up and running around in my room… and I saw that she broke my blunt up into a thousand pieces. So I… you know, I whooped her little butt and I put her in the bed with me and we… she was sitting up watching TV and I fell asleep watching TV. And then I woke up a couple hours later around the 9:00 area again where Leanne came into my room… and we were talking for a couple minutes and that’s when she lifted up the blanket on Layla and checked on her. And I didn’t feel the need to check on her because she checked on her. You know what I think she was probably already deceased at that point.”
Also in the apartment that day were Leanne, a woman Bethany let use fentanyl in her home, and several others. According to detectives, Leanne entered Bethany’s bedroom around 9:00 p.m. and checked on Layla under the blanket. Medical examiners would later determine that rigor mortis had already set in by that point. Meaning her daughter had likely been dead for hours.
The Denial Continues
Bethany continues to blame others, suggesting Alayna got into residue from a straw or baggy left by one of her friends.
Bethany: “Maybe she picked something like a bag that maybe it had in there before… maybe she picked up accidentally two things, a straw and a piece of paper that it may have had something on it. That’s the only thing I kept thinking of, maybe she found something with residue on it.”
She also admitted to multiple people that she’d known about the fentanyl exposure several hours before her daughter’s death. Prosecutors said Williams gave misleading statements to police to conceal her culpability.
Detective: “Were you using that day?” Bethany: “No, I mean yeah, but I use every day just because my medical conditions… but I don’t never use around my daughter, either. Like my daughter has never even been around me when I’ve ever brought it out… I always close the door and make her go out there, you know what I mean? I lock my door.” Detective: “But you’re high when she’s there.” Bethany: “I don’t get high. I don’t nod out. Like I just get well. Basically, I only do enough to make me not be in pain and I go about my day. I don’t do enough to where I fall asleep. You know what I mean? Like I don’t do that. I just get well.”
Bethany tries to claim the other people in her apartment are to blame, pointing fingers at Leanne, who was pregnant, and her friend Mario. She expresses frustration that they aren’t facing charges.
Bethany: “I just wish they would get in trouble. If I’m getting in trouble for this, I wish they would… I wish I could get something with them in trouble, too.” Detective: “Sweetie, she is your child. I know. I understand that. I get that. Okay. It’s your responsibility.”
Bethany may seem remorseful, but soon Detective Dwayne will really start pushing the buttons of little miss “It was just a blunt.”
Detective Dwayne: “The story I heard basically just makes you feel better about the fact that your 2-year-old’s dead. I don’t see any part of this where you’ve accepted any responsibility or any of it… This all lies on your shoulders. It doesn’t matter what you had going on in your house. You were in control of that home… It doesn’t make a difference whose drugs it was. It’s the fact that there’s drugs in your home and your 2-year-old, who should have been watched, and parented, got into it. And as a result, she died.”
Bethany then asks to speak to the female detective alone.
Bethany: “Does he have to be in here? Can I just talk to you?” Detective Dwayne: “I mean, this isn’t personal. I can step out of the room.”
With the male detective gone, Bethany continues her same sad stick.
Bethany: “It’s just us. We should speak about it. You know what I mean? That’s not cool. Like we have different styles of talking to people sometimes, and like my feelings are so hurt because my daughter’s passed away. It’s not that I’m trying to point fingers, and it’s not that I’m trying to make it not be my fault. It’s just I wish more would be done.”
The female detective remains firm.
Detective: “This is where it looks from where I’m sitting, okay? Is you have in your home and you keep your marijuana right there where she can get it… it shouldn’t be in your home, first of all, but the reality is that it was there, right? So, um, I understand that this seems like it’s not fair, but really what’s fair is what happened to Alaia, right? That’s what’s not fair.”
Bethany: “I know… So, what do we do from here?” Detective: “You go to the Justice Center. You’re charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony endangerment.”
The Sentencing
Bethany Williams pleaded guilty in June 2025 to involuntary manslaughter, endangerment, and tampering with evidence. On July 9th, 2025, she was sentenced to a minimum of 6 years in prison and potentially as many as nine, depending on her conduct behind bars.
The judge noted that while Bethany did eventually accept responsibility, it was, in his words, clearly not done up front. At sentencing, Alaia’s father wrote a letter to the court. It read, “Now we live every day with a hole in our hearts.” According to the prosecutor, if Alaia’s hands had just been washed, she might still be alive today. Our hearts go out to those who loved her.
