The U.S. government has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by the mother of Talia Williams over missteps by Army officials leading up to the torture and fatal beating of the 5-year-old girl. 

Talia died July 16, 2005 at the hands of her father, Schofield Barracks soldier Naeem Williams.

Tarshia Williams filed the lawsuit against the government over the 2005 death of her daughter, Talia. The lawsuit claims the military didn’t report to the proper authorities that Talia’s father and stepmother “abused and tortured” her throughout the seven months she lived in Hawaii.

“I will never have complete closure because my daughter is gone,” she said by phone after the hearing. “And all the abuse she went through, I will never get over that. My healing will never be complete.”

In what was the first death penalty case to go to trial in the history of Hawaii’s statehood, Naeem Williams, 35, was convicted of murder in his daughter’s death and sentenced to life in prison without possibility for parole.

Talia’s stepmother, Delilah, 31, pleaded guilty to murder by torture in exchange for a 20-year prison term. She has already completed nearly half of her sentence. 

During the trial the jurors heard testimony that a Schofield Barracks doctor who examined Talia four-and-a-half months before the girl’s death determined that there was no child abuse. The jurors also heard testimony that military police officers and sergeant from Williams’ command later saw injuries on Talia in the Williams family quarters at Wheeler Army Airfield but did not report the injuries to child welfare officials.

Prosecutors said her father dealt a blow so hard it left knuckle imprints on her chest.

The settlement brings some relief because it ends years of litigation and prevents Tarshia Williams from having to return to Hawaii for a nonjury trial that was scheduled for June.

“I just been through it last year,” she said of testifying at the murder trial and sitting through graphic accounts of what Talia suffered. “I don’t have to go through all the things that happened to her all over again. It will always be in my mind. It will never go away.”

At Naeem Williams’ trial, she testified that the last time she saw Talia was when the child left South Carolina to live with her father in Hawaii. She said the last time she spoke to Talia was by telephone on July 2, 2005.

The settlement has been approved by the Justice Department and will be paid in about six to eight weeks, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Helper said in court. He declined to comment after the hearing.

“She would be about 15 now,” Tarshia Williams said. “She would be in high school.”