Who are Hannah and Dianna Johnson? Ohio mother and great-grandmother arrested for nearly starving 3 children to death
CINCINNATI, OHIO: An Ohio mother and grandmother are slapped with a number of criminal charges after they allegedly nearly starved three young children to death.
According to Hamilton County Court records, Hannah Johnson, 26, stands accused of six counts of endangering children and three counts of kidnapping while Dianna Johnson, 72, stands accused of three counts of endangering children.
The accused duo were arrested earlier this month at a residence on Halsey Avenue in the Sedamsville neighborhood of Cincinnati, a small historically significant community located among the western reaches of the city along the Ohio River.
When were the two women arrested?
Court documents allege that the underlying incidents began in April 2016. Numerous reported incidents took place again in June 2017, April 2019, and June of this year.
On September 7, both the defendants were indicted and Hannah Johnson was arrested a week later, according to court records. Her paternal grandmother was arrested the following day.
According to Fox19, the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office said that the results of the allegedly combined neglect and starvation regime at the house on Halsey were the “near-fatalities” of children aged four, six, and seven.
When were the authorities informed about the incident?
Cincinnati police initially arrived at the residence in response to a suspicious smell, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told the TV station.
Someone informed the officers that the odor was from a dead raccoon under the porch. The authorities apparently then left without seeing the children.
However, the sudden and certainly unexpected appearance of law enforcement seemingly spooked the children’s mother.
Hannah Johnson allegedly took all three children to her mother’s house in Tennessee. The children’s grandmother immediately took stock of the state the trio was in and drove them straight to a hospital.
The medical staff determined that the children were severely malnourished and that they would need to spend months in the hospital to recuperate, according to law enforcement.
According to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, each child weighed less than 30 pounds.
Police said in comments to NBC affiliate WLWT that one other child also lived in the house with the mother and great-grandmother who was luckily healthy.
What did the neighbors say?
“Now, those children never saw the light of day,” a neighbor told WXIX earlier this month, adding “Like, they were, like, ghost white because they’ve never seen sun since they were born.”
Another neighbor said the children never spoke or reacted, even when she waved at them, describing them as having “no emotion at all.”
Other neighbors reportedly expressed similar comments.
“The cop had told my husband that they were – that one of the kids was being starved,” the first neighbor told WXIX.
“And that surprised me because I see her take groceries in all the time. I just wish, when her husband died, I just wish she would have asked for help because we were here for her. I always told her if she needed anything, let me know,” the neighbor added.
Where are the defendants now?
Hannah Johnson appeared in court for her arraignment on Friday. Her bond was set at 10% of $250,000. She is currently detained in the Hamilton County Detention Center.
Dianna Johnson, on the other hand, was arraigned on Tuesday. Her bond was set at 10% of $30,000. She is no longer in custody, jail records show.
Hannah Johnson is slated to appear in court on September 28.