The*Empress
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday for a memorial service to remember the little girl once known only as "Precious Doe," interrupting a pastor's remarks with applause and shouting the child's name in unison.
The girl remained unidentified for four years after her body was found in April 2001 near an intersection in Kansas City. Days later, her head turned up nearby, wrapped in a trash bag.
She was dubbed "Precious Doe" while authorities sought her identity and her killers. Police identified the child this past week as Erica Michelle Marie Green, who was nearly 4, and charged her mother and her mother's husband with murder.
"This experience brings us face to face with man's destruction toward man, face to face with evil," said the Rev. Wallace Hartsfield of the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church. "But life cannot be dismembered, covered up and put in a trash bag. That's why we're here."
The child's mother, Michelle M. Johnson, 30, and Johnson's husband, Harrell Johnson, 25, face one count each of second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child.
Police have said Harrell Johnson admitted that under the influence of alcohol and the hallucinogenic drug PCP, he became angry with Erica when she refused to go to bed, grabbed her, kicked her and threw her to the ground, leaving her unconscious. After she died, he said he used hedge clippers to sever her head.
"If I was a teenager today, in terms of what has happened to the child that gathers us here today, I would not even want to experiment with PCP," Hartsfield told the congregation. "Or with anything that could lead someone to..."
The pastor could not finish his sentence but held out his arms and made a chopping motion as though he were using hedge clippers.
Hartsfield's service was broken up several times with shouts and applause, and at one point the 300 mourners in the church shouted the child's name in unison.
Among those attending was Betty Brown, who raised Erica from infancy until April 2001 when her mother took her back. She said she was touched by the people in Kansas City who came to know the girl only after her death.
"My legs are rickety talking about it," Brown said.
When asked what she would seek for the people charged in Erica's death, Brown said she was torn.
"We have to go with the system," she said. "But if you want to know what's in my heart, they need to get what Erica got."
_____________________________________________________
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 3-year-old girl found beheaded four years ago had been brought to Missouri by a mother she barely knew and endured beatings by her stepfather in the days before her death, according to a woman who lived with the child.
"We could hear her screaming in the back bedroom," Lawanda Driskell told The Kansas City Star in Saturday's editions.
Erica Michelle Marie Green was identified this week after being known for years only as "Precious Doe." Her mother, Michelle M. Johnson, and stepfather, Harrell Johnson, were charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child. The couple agreed Friday to be returned from Muskogee, Okla., where they now live, to Kansas City.
Erica had been raised since birth in Oklahoma by another woman before her mother took her to Kansas City in April 2001, according to Driskell, a cousin of Harrell Johnson. Driskell said the three moved in with her, but Erica was homesick and cried often.
Harrell Johnson would beat the child "for crying, for peeing on herself, if she wouldn't eat, whatever," said Driskell, who now also lives in Muskogee.
Driskell said she once heard her cousin tell Michelle Johnson, "You better go take care of your ... daughter, or I'm going to do something bad."
About a week later, she heard a loud bang from the bedroom, which she now believes was the fatal blow to Erica's head. According to police, Erica wasn't moved for two days. Driskell said the couple kept the bedroom door closed and told her that Erica was sick.
The girl's body was found near an intersection in Kansas City in 2001. Days later, her head was found nearby, wrapped in a trash bag. Police say the child's head was cut off with a pair of hedge clippers.
Driskell said Michelle helped hand out fliers about the girl and even cried at a candlelight vigil for her. A short while later, Michelle Johnson left Kansas City and said she was returning Erica to the woman who had been raising her, Driskell said.
Driskell said she told Michelle several weeks later that she thought the dead girl looked like Erica. "She said, `Oh, no. I have Erica here with me,'" Driskell said.
Michelle Johnson "always had an excuse for everything, and we believed her at the time," Driskell said.
The girl remained unidentified for four years after her body was found in April 2001 near an intersection in Kansas City. Days later, her head turned up nearby, wrapped in a trash bag.
She was dubbed "Precious Doe" while authorities sought her identity and her killers. Police identified the child this past week as Erica Michelle Marie Green, who was nearly 4, and charged her mother and her mother's husband with murder.
"This experience brings us face to face with man's destruction toward man, face to face with evil," said the Rev. Wallace Hartsfield of the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church. "But life cannot be dismembered, covered up and put in a trash bag. That's why we're here."
The child's mother, Michelle M. Johnson, 30, and Johnson's husband, Harrell Johnson, 25, face one count each of second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child.
Police have said Harrell Johnson admitted that under the influence of alcohol and the hallucinogenic drug PCP, he became angry with Erica when she refused to go to bed, grabbed her, kicked her and threw her to the ground, leaving her unconscious. After she died, he said he used hedge clippers to sever her head.
"If I was a teenager today, in terms of what has happened to the child that gathers us here today, I would not even want to experiment with PCP," Hartsfield told the congregation. "Or with anything that could lead someone to..."
The pastor could not finish his sentence but held out his arms and made a chopping motion as though he were using hedge clippers.
Hartsfield's service was broken up several times with shouts and applause, and at one point the 300 mourners in the church shouted the child's name in unison.
Among those attending was Betty Brown, who raised Erica from infancy until April 2001 when her mother took her back. She said she was touched by the people in Kansas City who came to know the girl only after her death.
"My legs are rickety talking about it," Brown said.
When asked what she would seek for the people charged in Erica's death, Brown said she was torn.
"We have to go with the system," she said. "But if you want to know what's in my heart, they need to get what Erica got."
_____________________________________________________
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 3-year-old girl found beheaded four years ago had been brought to Missouri by a mother she barely knew and endured beatings by her stepfather in the days before her death, according to a woman who lived with the child.
"We could hear her screaming in the back bedroom," Lawanda Driskell told The Kansas City Star in Saturday's editions.
Erica Michelle Marie Green was identified this week after being known for years only as "Precious Doe." Her mother, Michelle M. Johnson, and stepfather, Harrell Johnson, were charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child. The couple agreed Friday to be returned from Muskogee, Okla., where they now live, to Kansas City.
Erica had been raised since birth in Oklahoma by another woman before her mother took her to Kansas City in April 2001, according to Driskell, a cousin of Harrell Johnson. Driskell said the three moved in with her, but Erica was homesick and cried often.
Harrell Johnson would beat the child "for crying, for peeing on herself, if she wouldn't eat, whatever," said Driskell, who now also lives in Muskogee.
Driskell said she once heard her cousin tell Michelle Johnson, "You better go take care of your ... daughter, or I'm going to do something bad."
About a week later, she heard a loud bang from the bedroom, which she now believes was the fatal blow to Erica's head. According to police, Erica wasn't moved for two days. Driskell said the couple kept the bedroom door closed and told her that Erica was sick.
The girl's body was found near an intersection in Kansas City in 2001. Days later, her head was found nearby, wrapped in a trash bag. Police say the child's head was cut off with a pair of hedge clippers.
Driskell said Michelle helped hand out fliers about the girl and even cried at a candlelight vigil for her. A short while later, Michelle Johnson left Kansas City and said she was returning Erica to the woman who had been raising her, Driskell said.
Driskell said she told Michelle several weeks later that she thought the dead girl looked like Erica. "She said, `Oh, no. I have Erica here with me,'" Driskell said.
Michelle Johnson "always had an excuse for everything, and we believed her at the time," Driskell said.
poor child. my heart went out to her. She may rest peace in heaven.