John Jefferson
Inset: Nicole M. Johnson (BCPD). Background: The home where Johnson and the kids once lived (WBAL).
A 36-year-old woman in Maryland may spend several decades behind bars for killing her 7-year-old niece and 5-year-old nephew after both of the children’s decomposing bodies were found in the trunk of her car during a 2021 traffic stop, where she had stored them for months.
A Baltimore County judge on Monday ordered Nicole M. Johnson to serve a sentence of life in a state correctional facility with all but 50 years suspended for the slayings of Joshlyn Johnson and her little brother, Larry O’Neal, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.
According to the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office, the sentence was handed down after Johnson was convicted on two counts of child abuse resulting in the death of a child under 13 years of age. Should she ever be released from detention, she will be required to serve five years of supervised probation and complete mental health treatment. The court also ordered her to have no contact with any person under the age of 18.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, officers with the Baltimore County Police Department’s Essex precinct at about 11 p.m. on July 28, 2021, conducted a traffic stop on Johnson’s vehicle on Eastern Boulevard near Wagners Lane, by the Back River. While speaking with Johnson, her behavior led police to make the grisly discovery.
Police said Johnson’s car was uninsured, unregistered, and equipped with a fake license plate, so they planned to tow the vehicle. As such, they told her to remove any items she may need from the car, Baltimore, Maryland ABC affiliate WMAR reported.
While discussing possible court dates, Johnson gave a peculiar response to the officers.
“It don’t matter, I won’t be here in five days,” Johnson reportedly told the officer. “Y’all going to see me on the news, y’all going to see on the news making my big debut.”
Police said that Johnson then removed a plastic tote bag and a clear garbage bag from the trunk of her car. She attempted to cover both bags up with a blanket, but the officers said they spotted maggots in the clear bag and smelled “the unmistakable odor of decomposition,” Baltimore CBS affiliate WJZ reported.
The officers made Johnson open the suitcase, which is where they found the body of Joshlyn. Police then found Larry’s body stuffed inside of the plastic tote. Both were said to be emaciated, with the 7-year-old weighing only 18 pounds and the 5-year-old weighing only 21 pounds.
In an interview with police, Johnson reportedly said that in May 2020 — more than a year before her arrest — she and the children were at a motel when she found out that Joshlyn had been stealing from her. She then admitted to hitting the child multiple times, resulting in Joshlyn falling to the floor and hitting her head. When Joshlyn remained unresponsive, Johnson reportedly said she put her in the suitcase and kept her in the trunk of the car for “several months.”
Johnson claimed Larry had died in his sleep about two months before she was arrested.
Johnson had initially started watching her niece and nephew because their biological mother was unable to care for them. However, they had reportedly arranged to exchange the children back, but Johnson failed to show up to the meeting. The children’s mother reportedly only learned about her kids’ whereabouts after police informed her of their deaths.
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