Mom, Great-Grandmother Charged With Starving 3 Children Nearly to Death

An Ohio mother and great-grandmother were indicted earlier this month on charges that they nearly starved three young children to death.

Hannah Johnson, mother of the 7-, 6-, and 4-year-old children, was charged with six counts of endangering children and two counts of kidnapping, according to WXIX. Dianna Johnson, the children’s great-grandmother, was charged with three counts of endangering children.

Prosecutors said the two women lived together with the children. Police were called to the home because of a suspicious odor, prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Amy Clausing said. The Johnsons told the officers there was a dead raccoon under the porch, and they left without seeing the children.

Afterward, Hannah Johnson took the three children to her mother’s home in Tennessee. Clausing said that the grandmother took the children to the hospital when she saw the condition they were in.

Prosecutors said none of the three weighed weighed more than 30 pounds at the time and will require months of hospitalization to recover.

According to Law & Crime, court documents say the incidents leading to the indictments against the two began in April 2016 and continued in 2017, 2019, and and June 2023. The incidents led to the “near fatalities” of the three children. The Johnsons were indicted on September 7. Hannah Johnson was arrested a week later, with Dianna Johnson arrested the following day.

Police told WLWT that a fourth child lived at the home as well, but that child was healthy.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office provided no further details about the case.

Hannah Johnson was arraigned last week and given a $250,000 bond. She remains behind bars. Dianna Johnson was arraigned on Tuesday and given a $30,000 bond. She is no longer in custody, Law & Crime said.