Police say Jayden Frost admitted choking Margaret “Maggie” Williams before leaving the scene and inventing a false account.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — More than a year after 21-year-old Margaret “Maggie” Williams was found dead on a baseball field in south Phoenix, the criminal case against her former boyfriend is centered not only on what happened that night, but on why prosecutors filed negligent homicide instead of murder.

That dispute has become the most public fault line in the case. Phoenix police announced an arrest after the investigation into Williams’ death turned from an unexplained death into a homicide case. But Maricopa County prosecutors ultimately charged Jayden Frost with one count of negligent homicide, saying the filing reflected the evidence and the legal standard they believed they could prove. Williams’ parents have rejected that view and have argued that the known facts point to a more serious charge.

The case began on Dec. 7, 2024, when officers were called to baseball fields near 40th Street and Ray Road at about 7 a.m. Phoenix police first described the matter as a death investigation. Officials said there were no obvious signs of trauma at the scene, and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office took custody of Williams’ body. The case changed on Feb. 5, 2025, when Phoenix police said the medical examiner had ruled the death a homicide. Court records later cited by local news reports said the cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation. Investigators alleged Frost and Williams, who had been dating for about two months, had been dropped off at the park the night before.

According to court documents described in local reports, Frost first told investigators that he left the park around 11 p.m. to charge his phone at a grocery store and returned about an hour later to find Williams gone. He later acknowledged that the pair had engaged in sexual activity at the field and that he choked her during it. Frost told police the act was consensual and that he realized something was wrong when foam came from Williams’ mouth, according to the affidavit. Police said he did not call 911. Instead, investigators allege, he threw away Williams’ phone and earbud case and then built a false story because, as the affidavit put it, he believed nobody would believe what had happened.

That account is why Williams’ family says the state undercharged the case. Mike Williams, her father, told local television that the family cannot understand why the case is not being pursued as murder or at least manslaughter. Their criticism has gained force because Phoenix police publicly used the word “murder” in announcing Frost’s extradition and booking at the end of 2025, even though the filed charge was negligent homicide. The county attorney’s office, in a statement carried by ABC15, said charging decisions are not a measure of a victim’s worth and are based on the evidence available and on the legal standards required to move forward. The office also said it would review additional evidence if more were submitted.

The family has also pointed to what they describe as a broader pattern of violence. Law & Crime reported that Frost had been accused of assaulting another woman in Yavapai County before he started dating Williams, and Williams’ parents have cited that allegation in arguing that prosecutors should view the case as more than a tragic accident. That allegation has not been presented in the public reporting as a conviction tied to this case, and prosecutors have not publicly said it factored into the filed charge. What is clear from the public record is narrower but still significant: Williams was found dead in a public park, the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide by strangulation, and Frost is accused of giving police a made-up account before later admitting he choked her.

The procedural calendar now matters as much as the public debate. Phoenix police said Frost was arrested in Ohio on Dec. 15, 2025, extradited to Arizona on Dec. 31, 2025, and booked into jail. Local reporting and court references reviewed by Law & Crime said a trial was scheduled for May 13, 2026. Between now and then, the central legal question will be whether prosecutors keep the negligent homicide charge as filed or decide the evidence supports a more serious count. The county attorney’s office has left open the possibility of revisiting the charge if new information reaches investigators and is sent forward for review.

The scene itself has remained part of the family’s public appeal. Mike Williams told KPNX that the field is the place where his daughter was strangled, left to die and left exposed to animals. Court documents described by Law & Crime said Williams was found with visible injuries to her neck and face, her pants pulled slightly down, one sock still on and bodily fluid coming from her mouth and nose. Those details have given the case a stark emotional weight that goes beyond the formal wording of a charging document. They also explain why the family’s argument has focused so heavily on accountability rather than only on getting the case to trial.

For now, the case stands at a tense midpoint: an arrest has been made, a trial date has been reported, and the facts laid out in public records continue to fuel a fight over whether negligent homicide fully captures what prosecutors say happened on that baseball field.

Author note: Last updated April 17, 2026.