Dad now charged in overdose

Robert Williams

Detective Jerry Foster with the Truman Police Department came to Sharp County to pick Williams up and transport him to the Poinsett County Jail where he is being held on four felony charges including introducing a controlled substance into another (his wife Crystal), accomplice to the introduction of a controlled substance into another (the infant), endangering the welfare of a minor and possession of a controlled substance. Williams bond has been set at $250,000 cash.

Foster said that he has been working tirelessly on this case and is very grateful for the amount of support and assistance he has received from Sharp County Detective Mark Counts and Ken Guidry and Probation Officer Dennis Burton. He credited Counts with doing the legwork on the Crystal Williams case. Foster said "another warrant is expected for another individual in this case very soon."

Crystal Williams

The arrests stem from a May 4 incident where the couple took their 5-week-old baby to the Fulton County Hospital in Salem as a result of an overdose.

The infant's mother, Crystal Williams, is also being held in the Poinsett County Jail on a $250,000 cash bond. Foster said that Crystal Williams alleged that her husband Robert got liquid morphine and came up behind her and squirted it in her mouth against her will and then made her give morphine to the baby.

The couple, while living in White County last fall, had a six month old son die under questionable circumstances.

The body was sent to the state crime lab following the death.

Chief Jeremy Clark with the White County Sheriff's Department said that although the county had received the preliminary report from the autopsy, in order to determine the cause of death, they were waiting for the full autopsy and toxicology reports.

Clark said the case is ongoing and declined to comment on any specifics to avoid jeopardizing the case. He stated that he would send a press release when the information regarding the death was available.