A 33-year-old Maryland woman with temporary custody of her young niece and nephew has been charged with child abuse that resulted in their deaths after officers found their severely malnourished bodies stuffed in the trunk of her car, according to charging documents.
A Friday police statement said the two dead children are siblings and Nicole Johnson, 33, was their aunt. They identified the youngsters as Joshlyn Johnson, 7, and Larry O’Neil, 5. A statement of probable cause said the severely decomposed body of the girl was found to weigh just 18 pounds. The boy was only 21 pounds at the time of his autopsy.
Doctors reported it “would have taken several months of malnourishment to attain these weights,” according to the charging documents.
Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt issued a statement calling the crime “atrocious.” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.’s statement calls it a “horrific and a heartbreaking loss of life.”
Johnson faces numerous charges, including neglect and first-degree child abuse that resulted in the deaths of children under the age of 13. No attorney was listed in court documents to comment on her behalf.
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