A TODDLER’S foster parents have been arrested for allegedly beating her to death after getting angry about how she chewed her food.
Jamie Johnson, 44, and Raymond Johnson, 62, are behind bars after their 3-year-old foster daughter died of blunt force trauma to the head.
The foster parents are accused of using violent methods such as closed-fist punches, kicks, head-slamming, and hair pulls to discipline the child, as per the Stanley Police Department in North Dakota.
The child was only in the Johnsons’ home for a few months.
She was repeatedly punished for things such as crying and taking too long to chew her food, according to an affidavit.
Jamie Johnson would reportedly fly into a rage over the girl’s eating habits, one of the couple’s other foster kids said.
The child told police the 3-year-old would get “in trouble” for “leaving food in her mouth,” according to court documents.
“It’s not easy, I get pretty crabby sometimes and then I feel like s**t for it,” Jamie allegedly told a friend via a text message.
“Honestly, if I knew how she was I might not have taken her,” read another text.
In other messages, Jamie called the girl a “total brat” and said she believed the girl was “special needs” and possibly “autistic.”
Jamie told her friends the girl’s “crying and screaming makes me a nervous wreck,” according to the messages.
“She screams, throws herself on the ground, beats her head against floor or wall, pulls her hair and scratches/pinches herself,” she claimed.
“If we tell her ‘no’ about something or tell her to go sit down, all hell breaks loose.”
HORRIFIC DEATH
The Johnsons brought the unresponsive girl to a hospital in March.
They claimed she fell down a flight of stairs a few days before, according to court docs seen by Law and Crime.
Jamie told investigators the child would “self-inflict” injuries due to a learning disability.
Statements from the couple’s other foster children and home security footage told a different story.
“You need to be careful with my mom,” one of the kids told investigators from the North Dakota Bureau of Investigation.
She said Jamie was the “meanest one” of the two foster parents.
In footage captured by a Ring camera inside the residence, Jamie can be seen striking the 3-year-old in the head with a closed fist and dragging her around by her hair. This resulted in the child hitting her head on various surfaces such as the floor, a table, and a wall, as outlined in the affidavit.
Jamie also allegedly hit the girl with a wooden spoon on the head, face, and stomach, and covered her mouth when she cried.
The child once passed out after being beaten so badly and had to be revived with an ice pack, according to one of the other foster children.
On one occasion, the girl resisted and bit Jamie’s hand – and Jamie allegedly punched her.
Raymond Johnson, Jamie’s husband, was considered the “nice one” by the children.
However, he allegedly also gave out cruel punishments to the 3-year-old.
He kicked the child and hit her in the head, the other children told police.
The Johnsons each face murder, child abuse, and domestic violence charges.
They will be back in court for a preliminary hearing on July 24, reported local NBC affiliate KMOT.
