A Phoenix woman is charged with murder and child abuse days after reportedly purposefully cracking her infant daughter’s back earlier this year.
Court documents obtained by Arizona’s Family show that Wanda Jean Johnson, 26, was arrested on Monday. Police said that on March 11, 2024, officers responded to an allegation of probable child abuse at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
When they arrived, they discovered that the infant’s mother, Johnson, had awoken to her 3-month-old daughter seizing on the bed beside her earlier that morning, before heading to the hospital.
Johnson reportedly requested her brother to look up symptoms online and wrapped her in a blanket “believing her child was cold and went back to sleep.” According to police, Johnson claimed that the “seizure had stopped” and did not call for an ambulance. It happened again, and her roommate videotaped the seizure on his phone. Johnson then transported her toddler to Banner Estrella Hospital.
According to records, the youngster was diagnosed as being in “critical condition” at Banner and airlifted to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Doctors and medical personnel discovered that the newborn had “a brain bleed and swelling of the brain,” broken ribs, and cuts to her liver, among other traumas.
She died on the morning of March 13, according to papers. During his initial interview with officers, Johnson denied causing the injuries. During a follow-up interview, Johnson revealed that the day before the convulsions, she did a “back-cracking adjustment” on her infant daughter.
According to court documents, Johnson returned to Phoenix Police Department on Monday for another interrogation, during which she showed on a doll how she “cracked” her child’s back.
During the interrogation, police claim she revealed she had no “chiropractic training” and was “probably reckless” in breaking her back. According to arrest documents, detectives asked her if she was responsible for her daughter’s injuries, and she said it was a “possibility” but that she hadn’t done anything else to her and “did not mean to hurt her.”
Johnson was subsequently arrested and placed in Maricopa County Jail on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse. She is being held under a $1 million cash-only bond.
