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Mother Admits Her Role In Death

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The Associated Press

Published: September 14, 2007

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The mother of a young girl known as 'Precious Doe' pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder in the death of her 3-year-old daughter, whose decapitated remains were found in a park and left unidentified for four years.

Michelle Johnson, 32, of Muskogee, Okla., also pleaded guilty to child endangerment, abandoning a corpse and tampering with evidence. She said she knew her daughter, Erica, was badly injured but did nothing to help her as she lay dying after being abused by her stepfather.

As part of the plea agreement, Johnson will testify against her husband, Harrell Johnson, in February during his trial for first-degree murder, Assistant Prosecutor Tim Dollar said. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against him.

Prosecutors say Harrell Johnson was on drugs when he kicked his stepdaughter, Erica Michelle Marie Green, in the head because she wouldn't go to bed. They say he left her to die and later decapitated her.
Michelle Johnson also acknowledged that she helped put the child's body in a park and moved part of the body to throw off investigators.

Erica's body was found in a Kansas City park in 2001, and her head was found several days later. The child was dubbed 'Precious Doe,' and activists kept attention on her case.

The couple were arrested in Muskogee, Okla., after police got a tip from a family member linking them to the death. The girl was identified in May 2005.

In exchange for Michelle Johnson's plea, prosecutors will recommend she serve 25 years in prison, Dollar said.

She was in prison in Oklahoma for larceny when Erica was born in 1997, reports show. Erica almost immediately went into foster care and remained there until Johnson took her to Kansas City while looking for work.

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