A California woman, aged 34, has been sentenced to over a decade in prison for the tragic circumstances that led to her 8-year-old daughter’s death. The young girl was forced to live in a shed and was later discovered deceased, her body left to decay in a bathtub for months.

Samantha Johnson entered a plea of no contest to charges of manslaughter and two instances of child abuse related to her daughter, Sophia Mason’s death. In a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop the murder charge. Consequently, a judge sentenced Johnson to 15 years and 8 months of imprisonment on Thursday.

Sophia Mason’s body was discovered on March 11, 2022, in a bathroom in Merced, a location approximately 50 miles northwest of Fresno. Authorities found her remains after she had been reported missing, revealing the grim reality of her living conditions.

Following the discovery, Johnson was promptly arrested, while her boyfriend, Dhante Jackson, was apprehended about six months later. He initially faced the same charges but eventually pled guilty to a lesser offense last October and was subsequently released from jail with credit for the time he had served.

The San Jose Mercury News detailed that after Sophia’s birth, Johnson left her with relatives. Her grandmother took care of her until 2021 when Johnson regained custody. During the following 15 months, there were at least seven abuse reports concerning Sophia, yet social services failed to act or notify law enforcement, breaching California regulations, as reported by the Mercury News.

“This isn’t justice,” expressed Sophia’s aunt, Emerald Johnson, in a victim impact statement cited by the Mercury News. “Sophia didn’t get to live her life. Her life was cut short. [Samantha] and Dhante both deserve to rot in prison for the rest of your lives.”

The aunt concluded: “But regardless of these sentences, I know that God has the last say for you both. You will get the karma that you truly deserve.”

Lynn Linnen, another of Sophia’s aunts, had a frank assessment of the defendant’s parenting skills.

“You failed,” Linnen told her, the Mercury News reported. “Instead of protecting her, you allowed her to suffer and die.”

As Law&Crime previously reported, Sophia was forced to live in a shed in the backyard of her home in the final months of her life.

According to the Merced Sun-Star, Johnson told investigators that the last time she saw her daughter alive was on Feb. 10, 2022.

On that day, she took Sophia out of the shed to clean the feces covering her body, according to the report.

Johnson then left the girl alone in a bathroom with Jackson, the man she knew was abusing her daughter both physically and sexually at the time, authorities reportedly claimed.

She reportedly told investigators that soon after, she heard a “thud.”

The next day, a sliding door was left open in the home, reports the Merced Sun-Star, and Johnson assumed her physically weakened daughter had gone out on her own.

Johnson stated that she believed that Sophia had run away.

This scenario is most parents’ worst nightmare, but Johnson refused to search for her daughter or report the girl missing.

“Jackson told Johnson that your daughter does not want to be with you and does not want to be your daughter anymore. Johnson stated that Jackson told her this, so that is the reason why she stopped looking for [Sophia],” reads the report.

Police officers discovered Sophia’s body exactly one month after Johnson last saw her daughter.

After days of searching for Sophia in response to an at-risk missing juvenile report, officers with the Hayward Police Department said they finally located the residence where Johnson was living with Jackson.

Hayward police officers say they faced one more hurdle when Johnson and Jackson refused to answer the door, so they waited until Johnson left home.

“On Mar 10, 2022, as detectives continued their investigative efforts, it was determined probable cause existed to arrest Johnson for corporal injury on a child,” HPD wrote in a press release. “Detectives also received information Johnson may be at an address in Newark. Hayward PD Officers responded to the area, located Johnson, and took her into custody.”

MPD then obtained a search warrant for the home where Johnson and Jackson were living with Sophia, where authorities discovered the missing girl.