Alabama executed Jeremy Williams, a 42 year old man from Georgia, on Thursday for the 2021 rape and killing of 5 year old Kamarie Holland, a crime officials described as among the most disturbing in the state’s history.
Williams was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. CDT after receiving a lethal injection at William C. Holman Correctional Facility. He had pleaded guilty and requested a swift execution, saying he wanted Holland’s family to find closure.
“This was an unspeakable act of evil,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. “Tonight, justice was served, and Kamarie finally received the dignity she was denied.”
Investigators said Williams abducted Holland from her home in Columbus, Georgia, after arranging with her mother, Kristy Siple, to exploit the child for money. Holland was raped, strangled, and exposed to methamphetamine before her body was found in Phenix City, Alabama. Siple later pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and is serving a 20 year prison sentence.
Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor, who led the investigation, called the case “the worst I’ve seen in nearly four decades of law enforcement.”
Williams’ execution was one of three carried out in the United States on the same day the first time that has happened since 2010. The U.S. has seen a rise in executions in recent years, with 47 carried out in 2025, the highest annual number since 2009. Williams had a violent history, including suspicion in the 2005 death of his infant daughter in Alaska, though he was never convicted in that case.
Kamarie’s father, Corey Holland, remembered his daughter as a joyful child who loved dressing up as princesses and making people laugh. “She was my little sunshine,” he said after the sentencing.
