Baltimore Aunt Charged After Niece & Nephew Found Decomposing in Trunk of Her Car

A Baltimore aunt is in jail after police located the bodies of her niece and nephew in her trunk during a traffic stop.

On Wednesday, the shocking discovery took place when police pulled over the vehicle being driven by Nicole Johnson at 11:17 p.m. Police discovered that the woman had a fraudulent temporary tag and registration. She also did not have a valid driver’s license. She was issued a citation to appear in court, and the officers told her that the car would have to be towed. The 33-year-old reportedly told the cops, “Y’all going to see me on the news making my big debut.”

Once the officers opened the trunk of the vehicle, they immediately noticed the smell of decomposition. Upon further inspection, they located a child inside a suitcase and another inside a plastic bag. Johnson tried to flee the scene but was quickly apprehended. The children were identified as her 7-year-old niece, Joshlyn Marie James Johnson, and 5-year-old nephew, Larry Darnell O’Neal. Nicole had been caring for them since 2019 for her sister, Dachelle Johnson, who was having difficulties providing for them.

During an interview, Nicole confessed that in May 2020, she became upset with Joshlyn and struck her several times, causing the girl to hit her head on the floor at a local hotel. Afterward, Nicole says she placed her niece’s lifeless body in a suitcase and placed it in her trunk, where it remained until her arrest. Then, in May of this year, Nicole says her nephew Larry went to sleep and never awoke. She then placed his body in a bag and put him in the trunk next to his sister. The aunt spoke of a wound on the boy’s leg before he died but would not elaborate on what caused the injury or if it may have contributed to his death. Authorities confirmed that she never sought medical help for either child.

Dachelle told police that since leaving her children with Nicole, she had been unsuccessful in contacting the trio for a while after moving to Maryland from Ohio in July of 2019. The mother said it wasn’t until March of this year when she reached her sister. They made arrangements for Dachelle to be reunited with her children, but she had not heard anything else until she was notified of her children’s deaths.

Though the medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death, an autopsy has revealed that the children were extremely malnourished. Joshlyn was just 18 pounds at the time of her death, while Larry weighed 21 pounds.

Nicole Johnson has been charged with neglect, failure to report the death of disposal of their bodies, and child abuse that resulted in the death of the two children.