A foster mother reportedly sent a disturbing message about her potentially autistic daughter before she is accused of killing her in anger over the child’s eating habits.
Jamie Johnson, 44, and Raymond Johnson, 62, are accused of fatally beating their three-year-old autistic foster child, as per the Stanley Police Department in North Dakota.
The accusations suggest the foster parents employed closed-fist punches, kicks, hair-pulling, head-slamming, and other violent acts described as “owies” to discipline the child, according to the police statement.
The child was only in the Johnsons’ home for a few months, but during that time, she was 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, said one of the couple’s other foster kids.
The other foster child told police that the three-year-old would get “in trouble” for “leaving food in her mouth,” according to the report.
“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, calling the girl a “total brat.”
In other messages, Jamie said that she believed the girl was “special needs” and possibly “autistic”, according to the report.
Jamie told her friends that 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.
“If we tell her no about something or tell her to go sit down. All hell breaks loose.”
The Johnsons brought the unresponsive girl to a hospital in March, claiming that she had fallen down a flight of stairs a few days before, reported Law and Crime.
Jamie told investigators that the child would “self-inflict” injuries due to a learning disability; however, statements from the couple’s other foster children and home security footage tell another story.
“You need to be careful with my mom,” one of the kids told investigators from the North Dakota Bureau of Investigation, calling Jamie the “meanest one” of the two foster parents.
Ring camera footage inside the home showed Jamie punching the three-year-old in the head with a closed fist and dragging her around by the hair, causing the child to hit her head on the floor, a table, and a wall, read the affidavit.
Other punishments alleged showed Jamie hitting the girl with a wooden spoon on the head, face, and stomach, and covering her mouth when she cried.
During one of the punishments, the child 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, biting Jamie’s hand, which resulted in several closed-fist punches from the foster mother.
Raymond Johnson, Jamie’s husband, was considered the “nice one” by the children; however, he allegedly also gave out cruel punishments to the three-year-old.
Some of these include allegedly kicking the child and hitting her in the head, the other children told police.
The Johnsons each face charges of murder, child abuse, and domestic violence.
They will be back in court for a preliminary hearing on July 24, reported local NBC affiliate KMOT-TV.
