Kansas City girl, 5, may face murder charges in drowning

(Reuters) - A 5-year-old girl could face murder charges in the recent drowning of a toddler in a bathtub, police said on Thursday.

Kansas City police are waiting for a medical examiner's report on how Jermane Johnson Jr., died, but have investigated the death as a homicide, spokesman Darin Snapp said Thursday.

"I've been in law enforcement for 20 years and it's the youngest suspect I can remember," Snapp said. "It's extremely rare."

Johnson, 18 months old, was in a Kansas City house on June 3rd with other children, but the 16-year-old girl who was supposed to be looking after them fell asleep, Snapp said.

Investigators learned through interviews that a 5-year-old girl in the house got irritated at the boy, Snapp said.

"She said she got angry because he would not stop crying and she held him under the water until he stopped crying," Snapp said.

Snapp said a decision on to handle the case will be left up to prosecutors after the medical examiner's report is released.

“...have had to explain the dangers of an action to a five year old child”

My five year old somewhat understands death but in the most basic terms. That is, she knows people die and they go to heaven. We recently found a dead bird and she assumed that it was sleeping. She was very upset to learn that the bird was dead so we had a “funeral”. I’m thinking “well, that’s over” but no. The next morning, she proclaimed that she thought the bird had awakened because she prayed to God that it would. My point is: a five year old doesn’t fully get it. Perhaps with some therapy (possibly very intensive) the five year old won’t become a future murderer. This is one strange case IMHO.

Sorry, I think this not being able to know death is final at 5 is a bunch of bunk. My kids understood death long before 5. I just questioned my 5 year old girl, in general, about when something dies what happens. She knows it’s final—that people and animals aren’t coming back. My kids aren’t geniuses—just average kids. Unless the girl is mentally challenged, she knows what death is. Now, what to do about her is the challenge. She can’t be treated like an adult so I’m not sure what you do with her. I doubt the government knows either.

My son knocked a nightstand over on his sister when they were both toddlers because “she smells bad”. The doctor said if it had been a half inch in either direction, she would have lost an eye or been killed.

Sister retaliated later by knocking a Snoopy bookend off a high shelf. Brother got stitches.

I’m so happy everyone is still alive.

*Sigh*

Hey everyone. Look at the article again. There are exactly 7 sentences. DON’T let this get under your skin. This type of article is printed for one purpose only — to make the Police look bad. In the first step the 5-year old knows what she did and told the investigating officer what she did and why. The officer MUST treat every unexplained death as a homicide. They do this so there is no loss of evidence. You are declaring the family an unfit family — HOW do you know this??? Maybe the mother does this to be able to put food on the table for them and a roof over their heads. What about the father??? Was he around??? You see what I mean (I hope) None of know because there are simply 7 sentences. A murder occurred. If the 16-year old has mental difficulties that does NOT mean she can not take care of the children. What KIND of mental difficulties??? Does she have ADD/ADHD? Is she developmentally disabled — this again does NOT mean she is less than a moron as is being indicated in many of your posts. Many DD people are able to carry on perfectly “normal” lives, marry, raise children, go to work the same as “normal” people. I work with the abandoned, abused & neglected children of this area (that I live) and believe me there may be 2-300 pages in the investigator’s report. I’ve seen some reports on a muder investigation over 1000 pages because of all the witnesses and the individuals involved and the video cameras that took pics of what happened. 7 sentences does not give anywhere near the complete story. This was posted here to do exactly what it did to each one of you — to incite anger against the public officials and the police. It worked!!! Everyone of you are enraged because of this child’s age. Basically that is all you thought about when you wrote your comment. My first reaction was NOT a chance are they going to do this to a 5-year old child. I’ll become involved BIG time. I went to the Major’s office with a copy of this exact article in my hand ready to beg him to get the child here where we could take care of her. He can’t because he knows some more of the facts that I don’t (neither do any of you). Please just think about what I’ve said. Go back and you will be able to count only 7 sentences. I hope each one of you have a wonderful day. May the safety of the Lord Jesus hold this family in His arms as each one must pass thru this time of grief and loss.

I met a woman once who was a foster mom for children who had committed murder. That was her job. She radiated love and strength and competence. It was a conference on Reactive Attachment Disorder. RAD is a disorder usually caused when a child new born to two or even later, has his/her attachment to a primary caregiver disrupted or maybe it never occurred. During the first two years, the brain is still developing and growing and neural pathways are being laid down. RAD can be dealt with later in life but it is difficult and requires a lot of commitment from loving caregivers.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.