After reportedly purposefully giving her infant daughter a “back-cracking adjustment,” a mother from Phoenix is accused with homicide and child abuse.
26-year-old Wanda Jean Johnson was taken into custody on Monday in connection with the passing of her 3-month-old baby, according to court records. She was charged with one count each of first-degree murder and child abuse.
According to police, a tip of potential child abuse at Phoenix Children’s Hospital prompted their response on March 11. They discovered that earlier that morning, Johnson had woken up to find her daughter seizing in the bed next to her, before heading to the hospital.
Johnson allegedly told her brother to look up symptoms online before covering the baby with a blanket and going back to sleep, “thinking her child was cold.”
Johnson’s roommate captured a video of the toddler having another seizure on her phone. Johnson then drove her kid to Phoenix’s Banner Estrella Hospital.
The infant was airlifted to Phoenix Children’s after it was discovered while at Banner that they were in “critical condition.”
In addition to other injuries including fractured ribs and cuts to her liver, the baby also had “a brain bleed and swelling of the brain,” according to doctors and medical personnel. According to the paperwork, she passed away early on March 13.
Johnson denied causing the injuries during the initial police interview. Johnson then acknowledged, in a follow-up interview, that she had given her daughter a “back-cracking adjustment” the day before the seizures started.
Read Also:Â A Teacher in Florida Arrested After Choking 3-Year-Old with Autism During Story Time
According to court documents, Johnson allegedly met with police again on Monday and showed them how she “cracked” her child’s back on a doll. She acknowledged she had no “chiropractic training” and that her back cracking was “probably reckless” during the questioning, according to the police.
According to records obtained during the arrest, she said that while it was “possible” that she was to blame for her daughter’s injuries, she “did not mean to hurt her” and did not do anything further to her.
Johnson is being jailed on a $1 million cash-only bond at a Maricopa County jail.
