Background: The Pawnee County Jail in Pawnee, Okla. (Google Maps). Inset: Christopher Paul Johnson (Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office).
The parents of a 1-year-old from Oklahoma who died after allegedly spilling methadone on herself were arrested for child neglect.
Christopher Paul Johnson, 39, and Kourtany Johnson, 31, were taken into custody on March 3 after reporting that their 1-year-old daughter was unresponsive that morning, the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office said. According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by local CBS affiliate KWTV, police arrived at the Johnsons’ home where they found the baby and another 3-year-old child who was reportedly covered in dried food, glitter, and animal hair. In the affidavit, the parents were reportedly described as “erratic,” and the home as unsanitary.
The parents’ claim that their 1-year-old was found unresponsive on the morning of March 3 was not the entire story — according to the medical examiner, she had already been dead for 18 hours when she was found, police said.
KWTV reported that Christopher Johnson had been watching the baby the day before when he allegedly opened up a bottle of methadone near the girl. According to the affidavit, he reportedly told police that he turned around briefly and then saw that the girl had spilled the methadone on herself and considered that she could have ingested some of it. He reportedly told police that he didn’t believe it was enough to hurt her, but he did tell Kourtany Johnson to take the girl to the hospital.
According to the affidavit, Kourtany Johnson allegedly refused to take her to get medical attention because she feared that authorities would take her children away from her.
The Johnsons allegedly told police that they put the baby to bed at 11 p.m. that night and found her unresponsive the next morning.
The affidavit reportedly said that the state of the home showed signs of severe neglect for the children who lived there, including one school-age child who was not at the home at the time. According to the affidavit, police allegedly observed flies, roaches, and maggots in several rooms of the house, animal waste, rotting food, and open prescription bottles including methadone.
The medical examiner determined that the baby had been dead for 18 hours before she was found on the morning of March 3 and may have died as early as noon on March 2, KWTV reported.
Christopher Johnson and Kourtany Johnson were both arrested and booked into the Pawnee County Jail on charges of first-degree murder and child neglect. Both are still in custody and are scheduled to appear in court on March 25.
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