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05-05-2005, 12:51 PM
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Tip led to breakthrough in four-year-old 'Precious Doe' investigation
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police said Thursday that an Oklahoma woman was charged with the murder of her daughter, who had become known as Precious Doe after her decapitated body was found here four years ago.
The charge against Michelle Johnson came soon after the girl, Erica Michelle Maria Green, who was almost 4, was identified through a tip, authorities said.
The girl’s body was found near an intersection on April 28, 2001, with her head later found nearby, wrapped in a trash bag.
Her story had deeply touched the community. “Everyone over here is excited beyond words,” said Capt. Rich Lockhart, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.
Johnson, of Muskogee, Okla., was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutor Mike Sanders said Johnson was being held on $500,000 bond in Muskogee and would be extradited to Kansas City “as soon as possible.” He did not immediately provide any other details about her.
Oklahoma angle
Detectives went to Muskogee on Wednesday to interview members of a family after getting a second tip from a man living there who said he was related to the child. An initial investigation last year of a tip from the same man did not produce any solid leads.
The Oklahoma man also contacted Alonzo Washington, a community activist who has championed efforts to identify the little black girl as he works to raise awareness of missing black children.
On Tuesday, Washington received a package containing a photo of the woman the man said was the child’s mother, pictured with several children, including one that the Oklahoma man said he believed to be Erica. Washington gave the photo to police.
“We know who Precious Doe is, and it’s just a miraculous day,” Washington told Kansas City television station KCTV. “It’s amazing what can happen over one tip.”
Washington said one of the detectives who went to Oklahoma had called him from there with the news.
Kansas City quest to find out
The story of Precious Doe had gripped Kansas City residents since her body was found.
In the months following, hundreds volunteered to answer witness hot lines and pass out fliers with the girl’s picture; hundreds more prayed and sang at candlelight vigils.
The quest to give the little girl a name put her story on the “America’s Most Wanted” and “Today” television shows and in newspapers across the country. An advertising company donated 20 billboards with her picture and the words “Who Am I?”
When the girl was finally buried in December 2001, hundreds of mourners turned out for a church service that featured children singing, dancing and reading Scripture.
The Rev. Wallace Hartsfield implored: “Don’t stop mourning. Don’t be comforted. Keep on crying.”
Authorities combed through more than 1,000 leads as community leaders continued their efforts.
Hopes of identifying her were raised briefly the following spring, after Florida child welfare officials realized that they had lost track of a girl in foster care for more than a year, but DNA tests showed that Precious Doe was not that girl, 5-year-old Rilya Wilson.
A makeshift memorial full of poems, teddy bears and flowers to Precious was eventually replaced by a permanent monument to the girl. T-shirts, bumper stickers and flyers with the child’s picture were passed out on city streets and vigils were still held to honor her memory.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7747095/
Tip led to breakthrough in four-year-old 'Precious Doe' investigation
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police said Thursday that an Oklahoma woman was charged with the murder of her daughter, who had become known as Precious Doe after her decapitated body was found here four years ago.
The charge against Michelle Johnson came soon after the girl, Erica Michelle Maria Green, who was almost 4, was identified through a tip, authorities said.
The girl’s body was found near an intersection on April 28, 2001, with her head later found nearby, wrapped in a trash bag.
Her story had deeply touched the community. “Everyone over here is excited beyond words,” said Capt. Rich Lockhart, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.
Johnson, of Muskogee, Okla., was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutor Mike Sanders said Johnson was being held on $500,000 bond in Muskogee and would be extradited to Kansas City “as soon as possible.” He did not immediately provide any other details about her.
Oklahoma angle
Detectives went to Muskogee on Wednesday to interview members of a family after getting a second tip from a man living there who said he was related to the child. An initial investigation last year of a tip from the same man did not produce any solid leads.
The Oklahoma man also contacted Alonzo Washington, a community activist who has championed efforts to identify the little black girl as he works to raise awareness of missing black children.
On Tuesday, Washington received a package containing a photo of the woman the man said was the child’s mother, pictured with several children, including one that the Oklahoma man said he believed to be Erica. Washington gave the photo to police.
“We know who Precious Doe is, and it’s just a miraculous day,” Washington told Kansas City television station KCTV. “It’s amazing what can happen over one tip.”
Washington said one of the detectives who went to Oklahoma had called him from there with the news.
Kansas City quest to find out
The story of Precious Doe had gripped Kansas City residents since her body was found.
In the months following, hundreds volunteered to answer witness hot lines and pass out fliers with the girl’s picture; hundreds more prayed and sang at candlelight vigils.
The quest to give the little girl a name put her story on the “America’s Most Wanted” and “Today” television shows and in newspapers across the country. An advertising company donated 20 billboards with her picture and the words “Who Am I?”
When the girl was finally buried in December 2001, hundreds of mourners turned out for a church service that featured children singing, dancing and reading Scripture.
The Rev. Wallace Hartsfield implored: “Don’t stop mourning. Don’t be comforted. Keep on crying.”
Authorities combed through more than 1,000 leads as community leaders continued their efforts.
Hopes of identifying her were raised briefly the following spring, after Florida child welfare officials realized that they had lost track of a girl in foster care for more than a year, but DNA tests showed that Precious Doe was not that girl, 5-year-old Rilya Wilson.
A makeshift memorial full of poems, teddy bears and flowers to Precious was eventually replaced by a permanent monument to the girl. T-shirts, bumper stickers and flyers with the child’s picture were passed out on city streets and vigils were still held to honor her memory.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7747095/