I was extremely mad that knowing that someone can do this to their child, let alone a child.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For four years, she was known only as Precious Doe, a little girl whose headless body was found along a road. On Thursday, police identified the girl, arrested her mother on murder charges and pronounced the sad mystery solved.
The girl with big brown eyes and neat cornrows in her hair was identified as Erica Michelle Marie Green, just shy of 4 when she was found.
Her mother, Michelle M. Johnson, 30, was charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child. Police said she told them her husband, Erica"s stepfather, killed the girl with a kick to the head and used hedge clippers to sever her head.
Johnson and her husband, who was not identified, were being held in Oklahoma, where they live. No immediate charges were brought against the husband.
CLOSURE:
"We have closure," Police Chief James Corwin said. "The little girl that we"ve known for four years as Precious Doe has a name."
Police said a tip enabled them to identify Erica, but they would not elaborate. And they gave no motive for the little girl"s slaying.
The girl"s body was found near an intersection on April 28, 2001. Days later, her head was found nearby, wrapped in a trash bag.
In the months after she became known as Precious Doe, hundreds attended candlelight vigils, volunteered to answer witness hot lines and passed out fliers with an artist"s rendering of the girl. The FBI took blood samples from family members of missing black girls, and the case was featured on television"s "America"s Most Wanted."
A makeshift memorial of poems, teddy bears and flowers was eventually replaced by a permanent memorial in a park near where her body was found. On Thursday morning, among flowers and balloons, a handwritten sign announced the news: "My Name Is Erica Michelle Maria Green."
MOTHER ACCUSES STEPFATHER OF KILLING:
Authorities said the little girl was killed in Kansas City. According to court papers, Johnson said her husband kicked Erica in the head, and they left her on the floor for two days. They did not seek medical help, she said, because both had warrants out for their arrest.
The child died, and the couple carried the body to a church parking lot, then through the woods, where the stepfather cut the girl"s head with hedge clippers, police said.
The break in the case apparently came after community activist Alonzo Washington, who has long championed efforts to find out who the little girl was, placed another advertisement seeking leads in a local paper.
"There"s something about it that just bothers me that a child could be thrown away and people forget about it," said Washington, who has worked to raise awareness of missing black children.
TIP FROM A FAMILY ACQUAINTANCE:
A man who had spoken to police before on the case came forward again, talking with detectives and Washington last weekend. Washington said the source sent photographs of the child as well as hair samples from the child and the mother.
Police and prosecutors refused to confirm specifics or identify the source, but Washington said the man "had a relationship with some of the people involved."
A photo displayed by police during a news conference, showing the girl with a slight smile and adornments in her braided hair, may have been a picture of the wrong child. Oklahoma police saw the picture and said it appeared to be one of the girl"s cousins.
Johnson was being held on $500,000 bail in her hometown of Muskogee, Okla., and will be brought to Kansas City as soon as possible, prosecutor Michael Sanders said.
PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS:
Oklahoma records show Michelle Johnson has convictions for theft and forgery. The stepfather has convictions for several offenses, including assault with a dangerous weapon and possessing a sawed-off shotgun.
In Kansas City, people who long had been transfixed by the case welcomed news of the arrests.
Billy Stegall, a retired post office worker and Army sergeant, discovered Erica"s head in 2001 and has gone back to the site regularly to pray.
"This is a day I have been looking for," he said. "I just asked the Lord to say who she is so she could be at peace, because she wasn"t at peace and I wasn"t at peace."
There is a special place in hell for this kind of people.
Unfortunately there are too many bleeding heart liberals in this country who want to keep these people from reaching that that hell for as long as possible.[:@]
__________________
Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
I wouldn't want to hurry these people along to hell any time soon.
1. Strip naked
2. Strap to steel cross, just like Christ except straps not nails.
3. SSSLLLOOOWWWLLLYYY dip into vat of boiling oil.
4. In one inch, then back out. Repeat process until screaming stops.
5. In two inches, then back out. Repeat process until screaming stops.
6. In three inches, then back out. Repeat process until screaming stops.
7. "
8. "
9. "
10. "
Criminal most likely parishes before we get to the knees; should take several days.
__________________
There's no such thing as truth, only perception
This made me mad...
