Four years ago, police conducted a routine traffic stop when they discovered a disturbing stench from the driver’s car. They later found the smell came from the decaying bodies of two children. The twist? The driver was a relative of the victims.
Nicole Johnson, 36, was pulled over in Baltimore County in July of 2021 for driving a vehicle without insurance, registration and with a fake temporary tag, per ABC 2 News. Officers said they were getting ready to hand her a citation when Johnson uttered a disturbing remark.
“It don’t matter. I won’t be here in five days. Y’all going to see me on the news. Y’all going to see on the news making my big debut,” she said, according to ABC 2.
Officers ordered her to remove her belongings from the car so the vehicle could be towed. They then encountered “the unmistakable odor of decomposition” as she rummaged through her things, per the report. Police said they noticed maggots crawling from inside a bag. Then, police said Johnson removed a blanket from her trunk which revealed a horrifying discovery: the decaying body of a small child. The police said they also found the body of another child wrapped in a plastic bag.
Authorities identified the children as 7-year-old Joshlyn Johnson and 5-year-old Larry O’Neal - Johnson’s niece and nephew. Police believed Joshlyn had been dead for a year before her body was found.
In interviews with Johnson, she explained she was watching the kids as a favor of their mother, her sister Dachelle, back in 2020, per ABC’s report. At the time, Johnson was staying in a motel. However, when Dachelle was ready to retrieve her children, Johnson never brought them back. Johnson allegedly confessed to hitting the 7-year-old girl, resulting in her falling and hitting her head.
Johnson told police she placed her niece’s body in a suitcase and kept it hidden. Then, two months before she was stopped by police, she allegedly confessed that her nephew suffered an injury and went unresponsive, prompting her to place his body in a plastic bag.
According to the Baltimore County state’s Attorney’s Office, Johnson was charged with two counts of first-degree child abuse involving the death of a victim younger than 13. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday to spend 50 years in prison. Unfortunately, she was right. We were definitely going to see her on the news.