Aunt charged after Baltimore County police say she stashed bodies of niece, nephew in her car for months
By ROSE WAGNER, JESSICA ANDERSON and TIM PRUDENTE
BALTIMORE SUN | JUL 30, 2021 AT 6:20 PM
A routine traffic stop in Essex this week led to the discovery of the decomposing bodies of two young children in the trunk of a car one reportedly decomposing inside a suitcase for more than a year, according to documents charging the childrens aunt in connection with their deaths.
Baltimore County Police charged Nicole Michelle Johnson, 33, with neglect; failure to report the death of Joshlyn Marie James Johnson, 7, and Larry Darnell ONeal, 5; disposal of their bodies and child abuse that resulted in the death of the two children. The cause and manner of their deaths are pending, police said.
Johnson is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson after she waived her appearance at a brief bail review hearing Friday morning in district court. ... Johnson had been caring for the two children since 2019 after their mother moved from Ohio to Maryland and could no longer care for the children, she told detectives, according to the court documents.
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Johnson told detectives she tried numerous times to get in touch with her sister and her children but couldnt locate them, according to court documents. In March, Dachelle Johnson said she arranged to meet her sister to get her kids, but they never showed up. Johnson had been unable to contact them since, and a detective notified her of their deaths, police said.
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Baltimore Sun reporters McKenna Oxenden and Sanya Kamidi contributed to this article.
Rose Wagner
Rose is an intern on The Baltimore Sun's emerging news desk. She graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with degrees in journalism and political science. Rose was editor in chief of student newspaper The Maroon and won a Hearst Award for college investigative reporting. She has also worked at The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate.
Jessica Anderson
https://twitter.com/janders5
Jessica Anderson started at The Baltimore Sun 2010 and currently covers the Baltimore Police Department. She's mostly covered crime and breaking news. She graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. and grew up in Baltimore County.
Tim Prudente
https://twitter.com/Tim_Prudente
Tim Prudente is a cops and courts reporter for The Baltimore Sun, and he also writes the occasional feature story. He has covered education at The Sun and worked as a night cops reporter. Call him at 410-332-6690. He's always looking for stories.