A 3-year-old girl in North Dakota was beaten, yanked around by her hair, and subjected to other “big punishments” — such as chewing her food for too long and crying — before dying at the hands of her foster parents, according to police.
Jamie Johnson, 44, and Raymond Johnson, 62, are both charged with murder and child abuse in the death of a young girl in March.
The child was allegedly given “owies” as punishment and forced to sleep on a cot inside the Johnsons’ Mountarail County home after being placed in their care several months prior, according to the couple’s probable cause affidavit, which Law&Crime obtained on Wednesday.
On March 19, police responded to the Johnsons’ home in Stanley after Jamie Johnson called 911 to report that the alleged victim was unresponsive.
According to police, the girl was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. According to the affidavit, she died from blunt force trauma to the head, as determined by an autopsy.
Jamie Johnson allegedly tried to claim that the toddler had fallen down the stairs days before and suffered a head injury.
However, evidence gathered by the Stanley Police Department and Mountrail County Sheriff’s Office, including Ring camera footage, text messages, and interviews with other children living in the Johnson house, allegedly revealed a very different story.
“You need to be careful with my mom,” one of the children told investigators from the North Dakota Bureau of Investigation, which took over and handled the case, according to the affidavit.
Jamie Johnson, described as the “meanest one” of the two foster parents, is accused of orchestrating the alleged abuse, with text messages revealing how she struggled to deal with behaviors she and Raymond Johnson attributed to the girl’s autism, according to police.
“It’s not easy, I get pretty crabby sometimes and then I feel like s— for it,” Jamie Johnson allegedly told a friend via text. “Honestly, if I knew how she was I might not have taken her.”
While speaking with detectives, Jamie Johnson allegedly claimed that because the girl has autism, she “would cause marks on [the girl’s] body by self-inflicting scratches and hitting [the girl’s] head against walls.”
According to the affidavit, ring camera footage shows Jamie Johnson “striking and punching” the girl on several occasions and engaging in other abusive behavior toward her.
“Jamie Johnson covered [the girl’s] mouth and was heard telling [the girl] to’shut up’ when [the girl] would cry,” the affidavit says. “Jamie Johnson pulled the girl’s hair several times.
Jamie Johnson also held [the girl] up by her hair, causing [her] head to hit the floor, the table, fall into the wall, and land on the ground.”
Another incident involved Jamie Johnson striking the girl “with a spoon in the abdomen, chest, and on the face,” according to the affidavit.
According to police, the girl can be seen biting Jamie Johnson and occasionally attempting to pull away, to which she allegedly responds with closed-fist punches and other attacks.
Raymond Johnson was also known to “kick” and beat the girl, but not as badly as Jamie Johnson, according to the other children who lived with them.
According to the affidavit, Jamie Johnson would often place the victim on a counter after she did something he didn’t like and begin hitting her in the head.
According to police, the girl “passed out” on one occasion after being severely beaten by Jamie Johnson. “Jamie Johnson used an ice pack to make the girl ‘come back,'” the children claim.
Jamie Johnson was allegedly upset on a regular basis about the girl’s eating habits, with one of the children telling cops that the girl would get “in trouble” for leaving food in her mouth.
While Raymond Johnson was described as the “nice one” of the two parents, the children told police that he “knew mom was punching, hitting, kicking, and choking, and watched it happen,” according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Jamie Johnson texted friends that despite the girl’s special needs, it doesn’t make things easier. “The crying and screaming makes me a nervous wreck,” she reportedly texted.
“She screams, throws herself on the ground, hits her head against the floor or wall, pulls her hair, and scratches/pinches herself…”If we say no to something or tell her to sit down. “All hell breaks loose.”
Jamie Johnson kept things lighthearted in texts with Raymond Johnson, using phrases like “total brat move” in response to the girl “passing out the other night because she held her breath.”
“Earlier, she held her breath…” Jamie Johnson allegedly told Raymond Johnson, “Till I shake her around.” “She cried then.”
In addition to murder and child abuse, the couple is charged with felony murder while committing crimes against a child victim and felony domestic violence resulting in serious bodily injury to a victim under the age of 12.
Both will appear in court on July 24 for a preliminary hearing.
