MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 16-year-old boy is facing charges in the death of a woman who was raped and beaten to death at a vacant home Tuesday night in Miami-Dade County.
According to an arrest report, Jeremiah Williams' mother turned her son in after hearing about the woman's death.
Family members of Francis Harris, 53, said she was well known in the community and had the mental capacity of a child.
"She had the mind of a kid," said Harris' niece, Megan Bruton. "She didn't have any evilness in her. She was pure."
Harris' family said the victim was looking for a bathroom to use because the one in her home wasn't working.
According to the report, Williams and several other juveniles saw Harris walking toward the back yard and began following her.
Detectives said Harris ran but tripped and fell to the floor. They said Williams and the other boys began kicking Harris and dragged her to another location of the home where she was raped multiple times.
The report states that she was then beaten and left to die.
"Many times we had told her to be careful, and her response was, 'No one is going to bother me,'" said the victim's niece, Rachel Hill.
"I know she was screaming, I know she was fighting," said Bruton. "If you see someone begging for their life and screaming, and you see the fear in them, and you continue to do that to someone?"
The family said they are grateful that at least one arrest has been made in the case.
"I can't say that I forgive them," said Hill. "I can say that they will get their judgment day."
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