Posted on 05/05/2005 8:07:02 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
Edited on 05/05/2005 9:20:49 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
The Devil is working overtime.
You got that right.
I've seen this case many times on Court TV and A&E crime investigation programs. Very sad. Thank God they may have found the monsters who did this to that poor little girl.
By CHRISTINE VENDEL and JOHN SHULTZ
The Kansas City Star
After four years of mystery, Precious Doe has a name — Erica Michelle Maria Green – and authorities were preparing to file charges against those responsible for her death.
Signaling that the long-unsolved case of the 3-year-old's death was finally nearing a close, Kansas City police, chasing down a lead in Oklahoma, released the girl's identity early this morning.
“Everyone over here is excited beyond words,” police spokesman Capt. Rich Lockhart said.
Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders said he had been presented a case file in the homicide of Precious Doe and had called a press conference for this morning to announce charges in the case.
Lockhart could not elaborate on what led police to make a positive identification, other than to say that a call last week directing officers to an Oklahoma couple brought investigators to a break in the case that began with the discovery of the girl's decapitated body April 28, 2001.
“It is still very much a developing investigation.”
Police found her body near 59th Street and Kensington Avenue. Community members named her Precious Doe and mounted a passionate campaign to remember her, bury her and help find her killer.
But for the long years spent trying to unravel her story, the end came in a whirlwind this week with the re-emergence of an old lead.
It started Friday, when a Muskogee man called police and said he was related to Precious Doe. He said he knew her mother and also who killed her.
The same man called police last year, but police said he provided less detailed information at that time.
That lead took them nowhere, police said.
Working with Muskogee detectives, Kansas City investigators on Wednesday interviewed members of a Muskogee family.
Michelle Johnson, 30, and Harrell Johnson, 25, had been arrested Monday on unrelated charges.
Police said Wednesday that they planned to question the two people.
Kansas City police said they planned to seek a DNA sample from Michelle Johnson to determine whether she was Precious Doe's mother, but they had not taken the sample Wednesday. Tests comparing such a sample to Precious Doe's remains would take two to three days, police said.
Michelle Johnson served prison time for a larceny conviction, according to Oklahoma records. Harrell Johnson has been convicted of several charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon and possessing a sawed-off shotgun.
The tipster recently told a reporter for The Kansas City Star in a telephone interview that two people drove with the girl to Kansas City in the spring of 2001 to find jobs. He said the girl was killed in a Kansas City house and dumped outdoors.
The tipster also sent Kansas City community activist Alonzo Washington a photo showing nine persons, whom the tipster said were Michelle Johnson and her eight children.
The tipster drew an arrow to one young girl, whom he identified as Precious Doe.
Washington gave police a copy of the photo Tuesday. Police confirmed the young girl in the photo to be Erica Green.
The Precious Doe murder investigation was one of the city's biggest in recent memory. Police already have conducted at least 17 DNA tests.
To reach Christine Vendel, police reporter, call (816) 234-4438 or send e-mail to cvendel@kcstar.com.
Thanks for posting this. I hate to think these scumbags are living in my area.
A shot to die to too good for these people.
Thanks for the ping, FMC. Yes, I remember this one. I'm very glad they were caught. Why does it always come back to drugs?
Real pillars of society.
Here's a fortune cookie - "You're comment will bring many responses" ;)
Eight?! Wonder where they are now...
Very disturbing case...I've been following this one for a while. Good news that they finally appear to have solved it.
I can't imagine what that poor little child went through...there really are monsters loose in the world!!!!
I don't know if I'd use those words. I know this is a great break in a long term very emotional case. But, "excited beyond words" bothers me. Although, I think I'm translating that for myself as "finally getting closure and peace for the community and dedicated personnel who have worked for justice." I know the unravelling of this horrible crime has to give those working the case great relief. Those people have my prayers. Working with such gruesome cases has to be devastating in itself.
Channel 9 reported that the stepfather had kicked Erica in the head and she had become unresponsive. She then laid in the house for 2 days, until she died. Then he got rid of the body and severed the head (I guess to prevent identification). The news reports that they didn't seek medical aid for Erica because both the mother and the stepfather had outstanding warrants.
Also, the mother had sent 3 of her kids to live with their grandmother in Chicago, so the folks in Oklahoma thought Erica was in Chicago, while the folks in Chicago thought Erica was in Oklahoma.
Words fail me...
I'm going to have a good cry for this little girl. That's all I can say right now.
Okie from Muskogee alert.
I appreciate you givng background to this case, it has been on the back burner so to speak.
Here are a few items I gleamed from the news conference.
Child was kicked in head by stepfather as mother watched on.
She laid for 2 days before they moved her.
Step father carried away the lifeless body from home, taking along hedge clippers.
He cut head off in wooded area then put it into a dumpster in church parking lot.
Mom said cannot leave the head there so they removed it and then tossed it in the woods North 59th street.
May she already have gone to heaven before her father decapitated her head.
Tipster may have been the child's grandparent, mother has half a million bond in Oklahoma.
What kind of abomination of a mother could create that kind of death for her child? Just reading that makes me ill.
OMG. This is one of the most horrible stories I've ever read.
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