PHILADELPHIA — The search for 10-year-old Malayshia Alford ended in the parking lot of a New Jersey apartment complex, where investigators found her body in the trunk of a car. Her foster mother, Carprice Williams, has been charged with murder. Investigators are now seeking records that could help explain how Malayshia came to be placed in her care.

Williams, 36, reported Malayshia missing on Oct. 26, telling police that the girl hadn’t come home from school and wasn’t answering her phone. Investigators later learned that Malayshia hadn’t attended school on either of the previous two school days. Prosecutors said she was last seen entering her West Philadelphia home on Oct. 22.

Surveillance footage gave investigators a break in the case. Prosecutors said it showed someone other than Williams carrying what investigators believe was Malayshia’s body out of the house in a bag shortly before 2 a.m. on Oct. 26, hours before she was reported missing. A witness connected to the vehicle seen in the footage helped lead investigators to a different car in Lindenwold, New Jersey, where they found Malayshia late Nov. 4.

The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. An arrest report obtained by NBC10 says two children who had visited the home told police they had seen Williams hit Malayshia with a cord and punish her by withholding food and water.

The case has also raised questions about an earlier foster placement. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a civil lawsuit involving a different child alleged that a review panel had recommended Williams never foster again after a 4-year-old in her care was hospitalized in 2021. A state official told the newspaper that Williams appealed the abuse finding and that the report was later removed from the record. It remains unclear what information the agency overseeing Malayshia’s placement had when it put her in Williams’ home. CBS Philadelphia reported that investigators plan to subpoena the city’s Department of Human Services for placement records.

Williams also faces charges including child endangerment, evidence tampering and abuse of a corpse. She was ordered held without bail and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Nov. 23. The Defender Association of Philadelphia, which represents her, declined to comment to the Inquirer.