Her caretaker kept cashing the checks for two years after anyone had actually seen her. By the time anyone official asked where she'd gone, nobody could give a real answer.
Born Into a Difficult Start
Brittany Renee Williams was born in March 1993 in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Rose Marie Thompson, had been diagnosed with AIDS just three months before Brittany's birth and passed the virus to her daughter. Thompson struggled with addiction and instability throughout Brittany's early years, and Brittany spent much of that time moving through foster care.
In 1996, with her own health failing, Thompson gave guardianship of three-year-old Brittany to Kim E. Parker, a woman she'd met through Rainbow Kids Inc., a charity Parker had founded to provide long-term care for children with AIDS and other serious medical conditions. Thompson died shortly afterward.
A Charity That Funded a Different Life
Parker took in as many as 50 children over the years through Rainbow Kids, many with serious medical needs or disabilities. She lived largely off donations to the charity along with Social Security and Medicaid benefits tied to the children in her care. People who visited the home described it as filthy, and multiple individuals who knew Parker reported concerns about neglect to local child protective services over the years — concerns that, by Parker's own account and others', never led to any sustained intervention.
Despite this, people who knew Brittany during this period remembered her as a genuinely happy child, often smiling. Her aunt remained in contact and stayed wary of Parker, sensing something off about her exaggerated friendliness, though she couldn't point to anything concrete at the time.
The Last Confirmed Sighting
Brittany was last seen by a doctor on August 18, 2000, during a medical appointment related to her ongoing AIDS treatment.
Around this time, Parker called Brittany's aunt and said she could no longer care for the girl, alleging that Brittany had been "flirting" with men working on renovations to her house, and that she feared Brittany would "turn out just like her mother." When the aunt offered to take Brittany in herself, Parker told her it was too late — she said she'd already arranged for Brittany to go live with a couple in California. Parker then stopped responding to calls or visits.
Two Years Before Anyone Officially Noticed
Parker continued receiving Brittany's Social Security and Medicaid benefit checks for roughly two years after anyone had actually seen the child, all while telling shifting versions of the same story: that Brittany was living with relatives, or with the unnamed couple in California, whenever authorities asked. On at least two occasions, child welfare officials accepted this explanation without further investigation.
It wasn't until 2003 that the case was taken seriously enough to act on — after a local news reporter who'd previously covered Brittany's story pushed for a formal missing-person investigation. Police opened a case. Parker was jailed for contempt of court after refusing to disclose Brittany's whereabouts, eventually naming two women, Linda Hodges and Kathie Evans — real volunteers with Rainbow Kids — as the people she'd supposedly given Brittany to. Both women confirmed they knew Brittany but said they had never had custody of her and had no idea where she was.
A Search That Found Nothing
Investigators searched Parker's property extensively, including draining her septic system, looking for any sign of what had happened to Brittany. Nothing was found. Authorities ultimately concluded that, given Brittany's ongoing medical needs, her absence from any record of medication or Medicaid use anywhere in the country since 2000 strongly suggested she had died — though no remains have ever been recovered, and no charges related to her actual disappearance have ever been filed.
Parker was indicted on 73 felony counts, primarily fraud and money laundering, accused of accepting over $16,000 in benefits and donations intended for Brittany's care after she was no longer in the home. She pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud charges and was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, with an additional state sentence for Medicaid fraud — totaling roughly ten years served. The judge specifically cited the harm caused to Brittany in imposing a sentence well above the typical range for fraud charges of that kind.
Parker has consistently maintained, both during and after her imprisonment, that she gave Brittany to Hodges and Evans and that the two women simply stopped communicating with her. Both women have denied this and have said they joined the search for Brittany themselves.
A Claim That Didn't Hold Up
In early 2021, an Indiana woman named Kaylynn Stevenson came forward publicly, saying she believed she was Brittany Williams, after recognizing a striking resemblance to Brittany's photo while researching her own biological family history. She and her wife noted matching physical features, including a similar mole, and Stevenson said she had some vague memories consistent with having lived in Parker's home as a young child.
The claim drew significant national news coverage. It also didn't hold up under scrutiny. Stevenson's own birth certificate listed a different birth date than Brittany's, and medical testing confirmed Stevenson did not have AIDS — a serious problem for the identification, given that Brittany's documented medical condition was central to the entire case. After a formal investigation that included DNA analysis, review of medical and adoption records, and consultation with infectious disease specialists, Henrico Police concluded definitively that Kaylynn Stevenson was not Brittany Williams.
Where Things Stand
Brittany Renee Williams remains missing, and her case remains formally unsolved more than two decades later. Henrico County Police continue to receive occasional tips, and detectives have said publicly that without Kim Parker's full cooperation — which has never come — the case may never be resolved.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Brittany Renee Williams, you're encouraged to contact the Henrico County Police Department at (804) 501-5000.
Sources
Brittany Renee Williams — The Charley Project
https://charleyproject.org/case/brittany-renee-williams
Still Missing: Search for answers continues for missing foster child with AIDS — NBC12 Richmond
https://www.12onyourside.com/2022/12/15/still-missing-search-answers-continues-missing-foster-child-with-aids/
Finding Brittany Williams: 7-year-old with AIDS still missing after 19 years — NBC12 Richmond
https://www.12onyourside.com/2019/05/01/finding-brittany-williams-year-old-girl-with-aids-still-missing-nearly-decades-later/
What Happened to Brittany? — Vocal Media
https://vocal.media/criminal/what-happened-to-brittany