Baltimore aunt arrested after decomposing bodies of niece and nephew discovered in trunk of car

Baltimore police found the decomposing bodies of two minors in the trunk of a woman's car during a routine traffic stop on Thursday.

Nicole Johnson, 33, reportedly stored her niece, 7-year-old Joshlyn Johnson, and nephew, 5-year old Larry O'Neil, in her car's trunk and told police she had been driving around with the children's corpses for months, New York Post reported.

The little girl weighed only 18 pounds, while her younger brother weighed 20 pounds at the time of the horrific discovery.

"According to doctors, it would have taken several months of malnourishment to attain these weights," the charging document states.

Johnson faces a charge of first-degree child abuse resulting in death and is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson, Maryland.

At 11 pm on Thursday, officers stopped Johnson. Authorities were preparing to tow her car for driving without license and fake vehicle registration when officers smelled something off as she removed items from her vehicle.

Court docs allege a body was exposed. Johnson reportedly admitted to detectives that she was driving with the deceased children in her trunk for months. Johnson told detectives she was their legal guardian since 2019 because her sister, Dachelle Johnson, moved to Ohio and was not in a position to care for them sufficiently.

In May 2020, Johnson told investigators, she hit Joshlyn several times. This caused the girl's head to hit the floor. She allegedly put Joshlyn in a suitcase in the trunk of her car. Johnson said that two months ago, Larry went to sleep and never woke up. She allegedly put his body in a tote in the trunk next to his sister.

"I don't know what to say, but I know they both have to be buried. Please help me. My babies are gone for no reason," wrote the children's mother in a since-deleted Facebook post that linked to a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses. But the page was removed after she "found someone that will do it for free."

"This truly was a devastating incident – one that not only shocked our community to its core, but significantly affected our patrol officers, forensic technicians, and detectives," said Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt in a Friday statement. "I am grateful that the harrowing details of this case were thoroughly and quickly uncovered, resulting in an expeditious closure to this tragedy."

She added: "I want to commend all of our Baltimore County Police Department members who worked tirelessly throughout this investigation to bring justice to these innocent, young victims."