Denise Johnson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania grandmother beats 3 year old granddaughter, Aylas Miller to death cause she was misbehaving. Left unattended child to die instead of seeking treatment.
A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania grandmother has been accused of mercilessly beating her 3 year old granddaughter, only for relatives to find her dead two days later as she lay in bed, her wounds un-attended.
Denise Johnson, 56, was arrested Sunday and charged with homicide, aggravated assault, abuse of a corpse, and corruption of a minor, WTAE reported.
A criminal complaint stated that Ayla Miller’s injuries did not appear to come from ‘everyday accidents.’ In addition to bruising, the girl had a cigarette burn on one ankle and an infected wound on the other, WPXI reported.
Ongoing victim of child abuse
Police said first responders were called to the family’s ‘Allegheny Commons‘ apartment Sunday morning just on 11.30am by an uncle, only to find the 3 year old toddler dead with obvious signs of trauma, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. They also noted the door was broken into the bedroom where the 3 year old girl was found along with several holes in the walls of the apartment, the criminal complaint said.
The extent of the 3 year old’s injuries according to WPXI included, ‘an injury to the right side of the neck and her hip, significant bruising to both sides of the face, a scratch or scar in the area of the sternum, bruising on her arm, and blood on the bed she was lying in. The injuries to her face appeared to be dark bruising near the right eye with some sort of impact point in the center of the bruise. She also had an infected wound and a mark consistent with a cigarette burn on her ankle.’
Johnson’s sister told police that Johnson told her she punched the girl in the face two days ago, and that the child fell backward and ‘hit her head really hard’ on a coffee table. The sister reported that Johnson said she was scared to call 911, so she left the girl on a mattress until someone else found her.
A detective confirmed what the relative said, with Johnson admitting that she ‘wanted [to] tell someone but was [too] scared,’ the complaint said. She told the detective she ‘beat [Ayla’s] butt for not listening and she fell into my table so hard.’
‘I’m sorry I know I [should have] gotten help for her…’
‘I’m sorry I know I [should have] gotten help for her [but] she was already gone,’ Johnson reportedly told the detective. ‘I just been crying not eating scared numb guilty I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it honestly truly didn’t [sic].’
Johnson’s other grandchild, a cousin, was at the apartment and told police they saw their grandmother beating the toddler with a wooden stick until the girl couldn’t move. Johnson is alleged to then have told the cousin to get her belt, only to continue beating the 3 year old.
The girl’s mother told police she had left her daughter with the grandmother for the past few weeks while she was finding a new place to live.
Johnson was ordered held without bond at the Allegheny County Jail, Monday morning.
