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A Baltimore woman has been arrested after police found the starving and decaying bodies of her niece and nephew in the trunk of her car during a traffic stop, police said Friday.
Nicole Johnson, 33, has been charged with first-degree child abuse resulting in death after Thursday’s gruesome discovery, Baltimore County police said.
According to charge documents obtained by the Baltimore Sun, Johnson was arrested just after 11 p.m. for allegedly driving without a license and with temporary false labels and registration. He was told his car should be towed.
“It’s okay, I won’t be here in five days,” she told the officer, according to the fill. “You’re all going to see me on the news making my big debut. “
Officers smelled something as Johnson pulled items out of his car. She tried to cover a suitcase with a blanket as she took it off – before a body was exposed, according to court docs.
Johnson tried to escape but was quickly apprehended, police said.
The children, later identified as her niece and nephew, Joshlyn Johnson, 7, and Larry O’Neil, 5, were severely malnourished, according to the Sun. The young girl weighed only 18 pounds while her younger brother weighed 20 pounds.
“According to the doctors, it would have taken several months of malnutrition to reach these weights”, indicates the indictment document.
Johnson allegedly admitted to detectives that she had been driving with the corpses in her trunk for months, according to the report.
In May 2020, Johnson told investigators, she repeatedly punched Joshlyn, causing the girl’s head to hit the ground. Johnson then allegedly put the child in a suitcase in the trunk of his car.
Johnson then said that two months ago little Larry fell asleep after feeling tired and never woke up, according to the documents. She put her body in a tote in the trunk next to her sister.
Johnson told detectives she has been in charge of the children since 2019, when her sister moved from Maryland to Ohio and could no longer care for them, The Sun reported.
“I don’t know what to say, but I know they both need to be buried. Help me please. My babies are gone for no reason, ”the children’s mother Dachelle Johnson wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post, with a link to a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral costs, according to the report.
The fundraising page has since been closed because it “found someone who will do it for free,” according to the page.
“It was truly a devastating incident – one that not only shocked our community, but significantly affected our patrollers, forensic technicians and detectives,” Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt said on Friday, in a press release.
“I am grateful that the harrowing details of this case were fully and quickly uncovered, which brought this tragedy to an early end. I want to congratulate all members of the Baltimore County Police Department who have worked tirelessly throughout this investigation to bring justice to these innocent young victims. “
Johnson is currently being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson, Maryland.
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