A Lake County mother was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after pleading no contest to what police called the horrific abuse and “torture” of her young son that led to his death last year.
Kimberley Leonie Mills, 38, of Tavares, was found guilty on first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse charges in the death of her son Xavier Williams, 10, and the abuse of her younger son as part of a deal with prosecutors. The deal allowed her to avoid the death penalty, which prosecutors had been seeking.
The harrowing case that shocked Central Florida began last February when Mills and her boyfriend, Andre Dwayne Walker, 37, brought Xavier to a Tavares hospital in cardiac arrest, with Mills performing CPR on him in the car. They fled when they learned medical staff had called police, but both were later arrested.
Xavier languished in a hospital for nearly a month before dying of his injuries. Court records show medical staff found bruising — including “severe” bruising on his face — as well as burns and signs of sexual abuse on his body. The child was also bleeding internally.
His younger brother, who was 8 at the time, told police that Mills and Walker punished the boys by hitting them with a copper rod, punching them with boxing gloves, tying them by their wrists and ankles to a ladder with duct table, and dropping a 10-pound weight on their stomachs.
Keniel Williams, the boys’ father, spoke through tears at the hearing while wearing a shirt emblazoned with a photo of his children. He described how difficult life has been since Xavier’s death.
“I have sleepless nights. I have pictures of the family I can’t delete off of my phone, I just can’t,” he said. “It’s very hard to cope with, its very hard to even function at work. It’s hard to live sometimes without him.”
Williams began sobbing and had to briefly leave the courtroom.
Morris Carranza, Mills’ attorney, told the court on her behalf that she loves her children and accepted the plea deal to prevent her younger son from being re-traumatized in case he had been called to testify against her at her trial.
The boys’ aunt, Cameil Williams, would have preferred that Mills face the death penalty, but agreed that the plea deal was the best option for the sake of Xavier’s younger brother. However, she was outraged by Carranza’s statement about Mills and her children.
“How dare you. Out of all the things you could say. You’re going to say you love your son? You’re alive and he’s dead,” she said following the hearing.
Williams said the moment is bittersweet for her family, given that the legal proceedings against Mills and Walker are only halfway over. She said she was concerned about Walker’s pending trial and the pain it would bring up.
Walker faces the same first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse charges that Mills had, with the child abuse charges covering the injuries inflicted upon both children.
Mills must testify against Walker if called to do so as part of her plea deal.
Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty in his case. No trial date has been set.
Courtney Sullivan, a detective with the Tavares Police Department, had said the abuse case was the worst in the department’s history. It seemed to have escalated around Christmas 2024, she said, when Mills and Walker began dating.
Sullivan said Mills was “methodical” and “meticulous” in hiding the abuse by controlling what the boys would say at or wear to school, including having Xavier wear long-sleeved shirts to hide marks or bruises. Court records show the injuries included burn marks that were “long in shape as if something hot was placed on … skin.”
Neither neighbors nor staff at Xavier Williams’ school suspected the 10-year-old was being abused. No one knew what was happening until Xavier arrived at Advent Health Waterman in February.
“She frightened those kids to not speak to anyone about the abuse,” Sullivan said.
Mills also “isolated” the boys from Keniel Williams, who lives in Connecticut, taking away phones and keeping them from speaking with their father.
Williams came to Florida after authorities told him Xavier was hospitalized and stayed at his bedside the entire time the child was in the hospital, police said. The younger brother is now in his care.
