Foster Parents Accused in Tragic Death of 3-Year-Old Autistic Child

Authorities report that in North Dakota, a 3-year-old girl endured prolonged periods of physical punishment, including being dragged by her hair, ostensibly as discipline for minor issues such as taking too long to eat her meals or expressing distress by crying, before her tragic death at the hands of her foster parents.

Jamie Johnson, aged 44, and Raymond Johnson, aged 62, are charged with murder and child abuse following the girl’s death in March. According to the probable cause affidavit seen by Law&Crime on Wednesday, the girl was allegedly subjected to painful punishments and was made to sleep on a cot in the Johnsons’ home in Mountarail County, where she had been placed in their foster care a few months prior.

Police went to the Johnsons’ home in Stanley on March 19 after Jamie Johnson called 911 and reported that the alleged victim was unresponsive. The girl was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to the affidavit.

Jamie Johnson allegedly tried claiming the toddler had fallen down the stairs days earlier and suffered a head injury. But evidence compiled by the Stanley Police Department and Mountrail County Sheriff’s Office — including Ring camera footage, text messages and interviews with other children living in the Johnson house — allegedly told a much different story.

“You need to be careful with my mom,” one of the kids told investigators with the North Dakota Bureau of Investigation, which took over and handled the case, according to the affidavit.

Describing her as the “meanest one” out of the two foster parents, Jamie Johnson is accused of orchestrating the alleged abuse, with text messages revealing how she had a hard time dealing with behaviors that she and Raymond Johnson attributed to the girl having autism, according to police.

“It’s not easy, I get pretty crabby sometimes and then I feel like s— for it,” Jamie Johnson allegedly told a friend in a text. “Honestly, if I knew how she was I might not have taken her.”

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While speaking to detectives, Jamie Johnson allegedly claimed that because the girl has autism, she “would cause marks on [the girl’s] body by self-inflicting scratches and by hitting [the girl’s] head on walls.” Ring camera footage, however, shows Jamie Johnson “striking and punching” the girl on several different occasions and doing other abusive things to her, per the affidavit.

During one incident, “Jamie Johnson covered [the girl’s] mouth and was heard telling [the girl] to ‘shut up’ when [the girl] would cry,” the affidavit says. “Jamie Johnson pulled [the girl’s] hair multiple times. Jamie Johnson also held [the girl] up by the hair and caused [the girl] to hit [the girl’s] head on the floor, on the table, fall into the wall, and onto the ground.”

Another incident saw Jamie Johnson striking the girl “with a spoon in the abdomen, chest and on the face,” the affidavit alleges. The girl can be seen doing things to Jamie Johnson like biting her and trying to pull away at times, according to police, to which she allegedly responded with closed-fist punches and other attacks.

Police said that Raymond Johnson was known to “kick” and beat the girl as well, but not as badly as Jamie Johnson, according to the other kids who lived with them. The children told investigators that Jamie Johnson would often place the victim up on a counter after she did something the defendant didn’t like and would start hitting her in the head, the affidavit says.

On one occasion, the girl “passed out” because Jamie Johnson had beaten her so badly, police said. “Jamie Johnson used an ice pack to make the girl ‘come back,”” according to the children.

One thing that allegedly upset Jamie Johnson regularly was how the girl would eat, with one of the children telling cops the girl would get “in trouble” for leaving food in her mouth.

While Raymond Johnson was described as the “nice one” out of the two parents, the kids told cops he “knew mom was punching, hitting, kicking, and choking, and watched it happen,” the affidavit says.

Jamie Johnson allegedly told friends in text messages that even though the girl is “3 and special needs … it still doesn’t make it easier,” according to the affidavit. “The crying and screaming makes me a nervous wreck,” she allegedly texted. “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.”