Content material warning: This text describes little one abuse and loss of life. Please take care whereas studying.
A Baltimore County girl will spend 50 years in jail after the useless our bodies of two youngsters, her niece and nephew, had been discovered within the trunk of her automobile throughout a routine visitors cease, concluding a tragic and horrific little one abuse case spanning a number of years.
Based on Baltimore’s WMAR2, Nicole Johnson, now 36, was pulled over in July 2021, driving an uninsured, unregistered automobile with pretend West Virginia tags. Initially, officers deliberate to have the automobile towed however first requested Johnson to get her belongings from the automobile. However when requested about potential court docket dates stemming from the visitors violations, Johnson reportedly advised them, “It don’t matter, I received’t be right here in 5 days. Y’all going to see me on the information, y’all going to see [me] on the information making my massive debut.”
A robust odor, trash baggage, and a plastic tote
A Baltimore girl was sentenced to 50 years in jail after the stays of her niece and nephew had been discovered within the trunk of her automobile throughout a visitors cease in 2021, in keeping with the Baltimore County State’s Legal professional’s Workplace.
https://t.co/G4Jakpr2i8— WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) February 11, 2025
When Johnson started eradicating her gadgets from the automobile, officers reported a robust scent, which one officer described as “the unmistakable odor of decomposition,” in keeping with WJZ Information. Johnson produced a trash bag and plastic tote from the trunk, crammed with maggots. She advised the police there have been simply soiled blankets within the tote, however inside, police discovered the our bodies of two youngsters — 7-year-old Joshlyn Johnson and her brother, 5-year-old Larry O’Neal — Nicole’s niece and nephew.
Authorities decided that Joshlyn may have been useless for a few yr, and Nicole admitted she hit her, and she or he fell and hit her head. Larry, in the meantime, suffered an unspecified “harm,” she stated, and died solely two months earlier than the kids’s our bodies had been found.
Johnson took the kids from her sister
Nicole later advised the police she hit Joshlyn a number of instances at a resort over habits points and since she was stealing. Joshlyn’s brother, she stated, had a lower on his leg, however she offered no additional particulars when she stated he went to sleep and by no means wakened. Nicole by no means contacted the police. Based on authorities, each youngsters had been malnourished, every weighing solely round 20 kilos once they died.
Based on Fox Baltimore, in 2019, Nicole took Joshlyn and Larry from her sister, Dachelle Johnson, when her sister may not take care of them. Reportedly, Nicole had organized to return her niece and nephew to their mom, however Nicole’s sister by no means confirmed up.
After Nicole’s arrest, police reportedly contacted Dachelle, who confirmed that she left the 2 youngsters along with her sister in 2019 however stated she solely discovered the place they had been when police advised her they had been useless.
Nicole pleaded responsible in February this yr in Baltimore County Circuit Court docket to 2 counts of kid abuse involving the loss of life of a sufferer youthful than 13. She was sentenced to life in jail, however a Maryland choose suspended all however 50 years.