Forget It Jake, It's Baltimore

Remember a couple of days ago I reported how a woman in Baltimore County was stopped in a car with two dead children in back? Yesterday, ruralcounsel remarked:

My guess is that the driver was a parent with serious mental problems. When they figure the cause of death of the children, charges may get filed. May not be competent to stand trial.

Close. The rest More of the story is out now at Da Sun, Aunt charged after Baltimore County police say she stashed bodies of niece, nephew in her car for months

Baltimore County Police charged Nicole Michelle Johnson, 33, with neglect; failure to report the death of Joshlyn Marie James Johnson, 7, and Larry Darnell O’Neal, 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.

Dachelle Johnson wrote about the children in several social media posts after her sister’s arrest.

“I wish it was me instead. I wish I didn’t wake up tomorrow,” she posted on an Instagram page where she also shared a GoFundMe fundraiser to raise money to help bury her children.

I don't like to be judgmental, but I'm going to guess drugs and/or mental illness may have played a role in this tragedy. And the failure of the county government to follow up.