A 5-year-old girl taken from a blood-spattered apartment at Wheeler Army Airfield was whipped and beaten to death by her father Saturday, ending months of abuse, the FBI said yesterday.

Both her parents were taken into custody.

Talia Emoni Williams was taken from her home by Emergency Medical Services units responding to a call for help and was later pronounced dead at Wahiawa General Hospital.

In court papers filed yesterday, the FBI identified the father as Naeem Williams, an Army soldier. The Army yesterday would not identify him by name and said only that a "suspect" was in custody. It was unclear if he had been formally charged.

The girl's stepmother, Delilah S. Williams, 21, whom the FBI said had admitted to delaying calling for help after the girl was beaten, was charged with murder in federal court.

Because the father is a soldier and the stepmother is a civilian, their cases are being pursued separately by military authorities and the U.S. attorney's office.

The following account is taken from a criminal complaint filed by FBI Special Agent Ty Justin Cook in U.S. District Court. The complaint draws from interviews with both of the defendants conducted by agents with the Army Criminal Investigative Division.

On Saturday, Naeem Williams "spanked" Talia with his belt because she wet herself, according to the affidavit, which did not state the time the incident began.

Later that afternoon, Williams went back to check on his daughter and found that she had wet herself again. He yelled at Talia and ordered her into the shower. As Talia walked to the shower, Williams hit her in the hallway, the affidavit said. The girl fell from the blow and hit her head on the floor. It is not clear from the affidavit when the girl lost consciousness, but the affidavit states that Williams picked Talia up, put her in the bathtub and started pouring water on her, but that she did not regain consciousness.

He then took Talia out of the tub, carried her to her room and placed her on the floor. Talia's room had no mattress, blankets or furniture because her parents had removed them as a form of punishment, according to the document.

Delilah Williams then told Naeem Williams to leave the girl alone, hoping the girl would wake up. Fifteen minutes later they heard the girl wheezing.

Delilah Williams, who told Army investigators she once worked in an emergency room, checked Talia's pulse and didn't feel anything, the affidavit said.

Williams also told Army investigators that she noticed a discharge from Talia's mouth, which from her previous work in an emergency room led her to believe the girl was dead, the affidavit said.

After telling her husband that his daughter was dead, she told him not to call an ambulance until she could get her 4-month-old daughter out of the house because she knew the couple was "in trouble" and she didn't want the police to take her daughter away. After handing the 4-month-old over to a cousin from 'Ewa Beach, the couple called 911 at 5:45 p.m. The cousin is not named in the affidavit.

EMS workers responded and found Talia Williams suffering from cardiac arrest. They were able to momentarily revive her, but she again became unresponsive with no pulse. Also, Talia was vomiting, possibly as a result of a head injury, said the affidavit. She was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. EMS personnel also discovered bruises on the girl's arms, chest, knees and thighs, as well as a small cut on her back.

According to Army agents, blood spatters were found throughout the Williamses' apartment.

Delilah Williams told investigators the blood spatters were caused by her husband whipping Talia's back with his belt and "busting open" scars, according to the document. She also told the Army agents she had problems with Talia because the child was "a special-ed child," and that she hit Talia on the back of her legs with a belt.

She told the agents she stopped hitting Talia in late March or early April because the girl started to retaliate by grabbing the belt and digging her nails into Delilah Williams' arm. At that point, Delilah Williams "let Talia's father, Naeem Williams, deal with her," the affidavit said.

Naeem Williams told agents he hit Talia almost every day, and that during the week, Talia was left in the house by herself without any supervision.

In an initial federal court appearance yesterday, U.S. Magistrate Kevin Chang set a July 21 detention hearing for Delilah Williams. When asked if she understood the charges against her, she nodded.

Staff writer Curtis Lum contributed to this report.