A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with murder in the death of her 3-year-old granddaughter in Pittsburgh.
Denise Johnson, 56, was arrested Sunday and charged with homicide, aggravated assault, abuse of a corpse, and corruption of a minor, WTAE reported.
The complaint says 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.
Police said first responders were called to the apartment late Sunday morning by an uncle and found the girl dead with obvious signs of trauma, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. They also noted the door was broken into the bedroom where the girl was found and there were several holes in the walls of the apartment, a criminal complaint said.
According to the complaint, Johnson’s sister told police that Johnson told her she punched the girl in the face two days ago, and she fell backward and “het 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 texted Johnson about what her sister said, and she replied 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 [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 Johnson beating the toddler with a wooden stick until the girl couldn’t move. She then told the cousin to get her belt and beat the girl more.
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.
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