Routine traffic stop reveals two dead children, ages 5 and 7, found in trunk of their aunt’s car
A macabre and horrific case out of Essex, Maryland began with a routine traffic stop on July 28 and ended with Baltimore County Police officers finding the deceased bodies of two young siblings, ages five and seven, in the trunk of that vehicle. Making the story even more horrific, if that’s even possible, those children were the niece and nephew of the woman driving the car – and at least one of the kids had been dead for more than a year.
According to the Baltimore County Police, just after 11 p.m. on July 28, police officers in Essex conducted a traffic stop on Eastern Boulevard near Wagners Lane. As the traffic stop evolved, officers soon discovered that the operator of that vehicle, 33-year-old Nicole M. Johnson, who lived in the 3500 block of Elmora Avenue in Baltimore, was driving without a license and also had a fake automobile registration and a fake temporary tag.
When the officer issued a citation for Johnson to appear in court and told her that her car would have to be towed, Johnson supposedly told the officer, “It don’t matter, I won’t be here in five days,” and “Y’all going to see me on the news making my big debut.”
As soon as the officer cleared out the trunk so the car could be towed, he smelled decomposition coming from plastic bags in the trunk, according to The Baltimore Sun. One body was found in a suitcase, the other inside a plastic tote bag. When the officer found the first body, Johnson tried to run. ~ Patch.com
Johnson eventually told the officers that the two dead children in her trunk were her niece and nephew, seven-year-old Joshlyn Johnson and five-year-old Larry O’Neil. Baltimore County Police arrested Johnson and charged her in connection with the deaths of her two family members.
The children are siblings. Johnson faces multiple charges including 1st degree child abuse that resulted in the death of a child under the age of 13.
The Baltimore Sun reported that, following her arrest, Johnson confessed that in May 2020, she was staying at the Regal Inn in Rosedale, Maryland, where she hit her niece several times. After one of those blows, young Joshlyn went down, striking her head on the floor. After that, Johnson placed the little girl into a suitcase and placed the suitcase in the trunk of her car.
According to charging documents shared by the Sun, Larry told Johnson he was tired, laid down to sleep and never woke up. So she put his body in a tote that she put next to his sister’s body in the trunk.
Police say that Joshlyn died after being placed in her aunt’s trunk back in May 2020 with her brother Larry apparently dying one year later.
Johnson told police that in 2019, her sister Dachelle Johnson, asked her to care for her children because she could not. CBS News in Baltimore shared Dachelle Johnson telling the police that she tried getting in touch with her sister but that her sister would never return her calls.
The Baltimore Sun noted that Dachelle Johnson hadn’t been able to find her sister or her children until police notified her of their deaths. ~ per CBS News
Johnson is being held without bond.
(Source and Nicole M. Johnson Booking Photo: Baltimore County Police)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
