Nicole Michelle Johnson, 33, of Baltimore, was arrested Thursday and charged with two cases each of first degree child abuse and first degree child abuse resulting in death; negligent neglect of a minor; Failure to report the death of a child; and the unauthorized burial of a corpse as an offense, as court records show.
“The entire Baltimore County Police Department grieves with the community over the” unspeakable deaths of two innocent children, “said Police Chief Melissa Hyatt after Johnson’s arrest.” The investigation into this gruesome crime will not cease until those responsible are brought to justice. “
Johnson is still being held without bail, court documents show. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 27th.
CNN reached out to the public defender who represents Johnson but heard nothing.
According to indictment documents filed with Johnson’s indictment, officials dressed Johnson for speeding around 11 p.m. on Wednesday and found that she had no license, no insurance and was using a fake temporary tag. Officials advised Johnson to report to the district court in five days and, according to the records, tow her car.
Johnson then said, “It doesn’t matter, I won’t be here in five days” and “You will see me on the news, you will all see me on the news making my big debut,” according to the documents.
Johnson then took items from the trunk of her car, including a maggot-filled clear trash bag with a strong “decomposing odor” and a black and yellow plastic bag, the documents said.
The officer asked Johnson to open the clear trash bag, which she eventually did, revealing a suitcase that Johnson claimed contained blankets, the documents say. Johnson tried to use the blanket to hide the contents of the suitcase, but the officer told her to remove the blanket and she did it to “expose the decaying body of a young child,” according to the documents.
Johnson tried to flee at the time, but was quickly caught, the document says. The officers then opened the plastic bag and found another plastic bag with the remains of another child.
The bags contained the remains of two siblings who were Johnson’s niece and nephew, 7-year-old Joshlyn Johnson and her 5-year-old brother Larry O’Neil, according to police. Police noted it will take time to determine the cause of death and the Maryland state medical examiner has not yet responded to CNN’s request.
Johnson told detectives that she hit the girl multiple times for “wrongdoing”, which resulted in her falling and hitting her head on the floor, according to the documents. Johnson then stowed the girl’s body in a suitcase and carried it around for months.
She also told the detectives that she saw blood on Larry’s leg two months ago and that he never woke up after saying he was tired, which she put in the plastic bag that she later put in the bag with his sister Put trunk. It is not clear when the boy’s body was put in the car. An autopsy found Joshlyn weighed 18 pounds and the Larry 21 pounds, according to the documents.
Johnson had custody of the children since 2019 after her sister Dachelle Johnson – the mother of the two children – told police she couldn’t look after them, according to indictment documents. Speaking to detectives, Dachelle Johnson said she moved from Ohio to Maryland in July 2019 when she asked her sister to look after the children, according to documents.
Dachelle Johnson told detectives that she tried to contact her sister several times after dropping off her children and finally reached her in March 2021, according to documents. She arranged for her sister to bring the children back, but her sister never met her and Dachelle Johnson hadn’t been able to reach her sister or the children until detectives informed her of her death, the documents say.
CNN’s Laura James contributed to this report.
