Williams spoke with investigators for hours after he was treated at the hospital, eventually indicating that
he knew he wanted to kill the woman and her daughter before he went to their apartment that night, according to a criminal complaint.
Sgt. Chue Thao of the Appleton Police Department testified Friday that he spoke with Williams for three or four hours on the night of the incident. Williams' demeanor during the interview was "calm, collected and intentional," Thao said.
"When asked why he attacked (the child), Demetrius said (the woman) and (her daughter) were very close and he knew that killing (the girl) would bring (the woman) great pain or hurt her a lot," the complaint says.
Williams and the woman told police in separate interviews that they met on Instagram and he moved from Minneapolis to Appleton last summer to be with her. He became angry when she began to distance herself from him, the complaint says.
Williams used pepper spray on the woman before he attacked her with two knives from her kitchen, the complaint says. She fled the apartment, only to realize Williams was left alone with her daughter. She tried to go back inside, but he had locked the door.
When police spoke with the woman, she indicated that she feared for her life during the attack, Thao said.
"She felt he was going to kill her," he said.
Williams described the motive behind his attack when he spoke with police that night, Thao said.
"He talked about happiness and freedom," he said. "By getting rid of them, he did not have to deal with them. He did not have to see them."
A police officer who went inside the apartment complex found the woman at the other end of the hallway, sobbing with a “significant amount of blood on her face,” holding a child — later identified as the 3-year-old — in her arms, the complaint says.
Williams ran to a nearby gas station and called 911 himself to report his attack, the complaint says. A police officer who responded saw Williams had blood on both his hands, several cuts to his right hand and a leg wound.
Williams' defense attorney, Robert Welygan, asked Gill to consider lowering Williams' cash bond, pointing out that he has no prior criminal record and has cooperated with the investigation.
Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis argued against lowering Williams' cash bond, pointing out that Williams has limited ties to the area and should be considered a flight risk, while describing the crime as "cold and calculated."
Gill denied the request to lower Williams' cash bond.