The infant daughter of Jariah Edwards — a 17-year-old Buckeye girl shot and killed by her boyfriend while on a San Diego vacation — has died, more than a week after being delivered by emergency C-section following her mother’s shooting.
The newborn, who had suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury at birth, died June 7 at Rady Children’s Hospital, the San Diego Police Department said. Neonatal intensive care staff had worked to keep her alive since her delivery at 32 weeks of pregnancy, police said in a news release. The baby’s original due date was July 20, according to a baby registry page on Target.com.
Trevon Williams, 21, of Tolleson — who police say used a rideshare service to travel from Arizona to the Bay Park neighborhood vacation rental where Edwards was staying with her family — is accused of orchestrating a plan to get Edwards outside before shooting her. Prosecutors said at a June 3 arraignment hearing that Williams had flowers and then a vase delivered to the home to bring Edwards to the door. When she stepped outside, he shot her once in the head.
He then changed clothes and fled to a nearby canyon, where officers arrested him about two hours later. A semi-automatic handgun was recovered at the time of his arrest.
Williams pleaded not guilty at his arraignment to charges including first-degree murder, discharging a firearm and possession and transportation of a machine gun, a charge prosecutors said related to an extended magazine on the handgun recovered at the scene. Prosecutors said he could face the death penalty if convicted.
He remained held without bail at San Diego Central Jail. A bail review hearing was set for June 12.
Deputy District Attorney Alex Lorens told the court that Williams’ relationship with Edwards had been “filled with domestic violence” and threats of violence against her and her unborn child.
Court records show Williams was convicted in 2025 in Avondale Municipal Court for violating a harassment injunction filed by a previous girlfriend, also 17, whom he punched and struck with a dog collar, according to court records. He received a diversion sentence in that case, leaving no criminal record.
“She’s so close to having her baby, that her mother just wanted to do one good gesture for her daughter,” said Darlene Hill, Edwards’ cousin, “before she becomes a mother herself.”
Edwards’ sister, Jaidyn, vowed on social media to raise the baby before the newborn’s death. “We’re gonna take good care of your baby girl,” she wrote. “You had the purest heart and soul.”
A GoFundMe campaign for the family had raised more than $11,000 for Edwards’ family, as of June 8.
Anyone with information about the San Diego shooting was asked to call the San Diego Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
The Republic’s Ray Stern contributed to this story.
