Jury hears autopsy findings, police interviews in second day of murder trial surrounding baby’s 2021 death
Mitchell Kaminski
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The second day of the trial of a Fayette woman charged with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child in the 2021 death of an 8-month-old girl resumed Tuesday morning.
Columbia police arrested Jennifer Johnson in April 2021, after being called to a home in the 1000 block of Elleta Boulevard in north Columbia. She is accused of the death of Hannah Kent.
According to court documents, Hannah’s mother, Lanetta Hill, found the child around 8:30 a.m. unresponsive and cool to the touch after returning home, and immediately noticed bruising. Hill then took the child to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where the infant was pronounced dead.
Hill testified on Monday that she and Johnson had been friends for more than a decade after Hill moved to Fayette and that she had previously allowed Johnson to watch her children. She said she asked Johnson to watch her children the night of the incident, noting it was the first time Johnson had cared for Hannah.
Hill said when she returned home the next morning, Hannah was cold and unresponsive. Concerned that emergency responders would take too long, she decided to drive Hannah to the hospital herself. As she was leaving the house with Hannah, Hill testified that Johnson said she did not know what happened and asked whether she would still be paid.
Columbia Police Department Detective Justin Hill was the first witness to testify Tuesday. He said he went to the hospital the morning of Hannah Kent’s death and observed several bruises on the child’s head and chest. Prosecutors later displayed hospital photographs of Hannah showing marks and bruising on the right side of her face.
During cross-examination, the defense asked Justin Hill whether he had any medical training. He said he did not.
Hannah Kent’s sister, Jynasha Hill, was the next witness to testify. Jynasha Hill said she was 13 at the time and last saw her sister alive at about 6 p.m. April 16, 2021.
Jynasha Hill testified that she went to the home where Johnson was watching the children, but later left to visit a friend at her brother’s grandmother’s house. She said she knew Johnson because she had previously watched her, and that Johnson was with the children when she left.
Before leaving, Jynasha Hill said she saw Johnson feeding Hannah a bottle and initially noticed nothing unusual. When questioned further, Jynasha Hill testified that Johnson was burping the baby “a bit aggressively,” prompting her to take Hannah and burp her instead.
Jynasha Hill said Johnson was in the bathroom when she left. Asked whether the shower was running, Jynasha Hill said she did not hear anything. She added that Johnson later called her that evening.
When questioned by the defense, Jynasha Hill claimed her parents’ bedroom was locked when she left and that at 10:34 pm, her brother’s grandmother told her she could not go back to the house.
The state then called former CPD officer Turner Schuster to testify. Schuster said he spoke with Johnson in a parking lot outside the home on the day Hannah Kent was pronounced dead. At the time, Schuster said, Johnson was not considered a suspect.
Body-camera footage of the interaction was shown to the jury. In the video, Johnson told Schuster she had cooked dinner around 8:30 p.m. and fell asleep about an hour later. She said she woke up at 11:30 p.m. and, at approximately 2:15 a.m., gave the baby a bottle, then placed her on a mattress with the other children. Johnson said that was the last time she saw Hannah alive.
Schuster also testified that during the interview, Johnson never asked about Hannah’s condition or the wellbeing of any of the other children.
Carl Christopher Stacey testified next. Stacey, a forensic pathologist, performed Hannah Kent’s autopsy. Autopsy photographs shown to the jury revealed significant bruising on Hannah’s face. Additional images of her brain showed a red discoloration, which Stacey testified indicated it was unhealthy, noting that a healthy brain should appear white.
Stacey also testified that only a “few hours at most” passed between the time Hannah died and when she arrived at the emergency room.
Court documents say two people who knew Johnson brought items that Johnson had at the home to Columbia police. Investigators allegedly found baby formula on Johnson’s clothes, and a swab of the same shirt tested positive for blood, court documents say.
The state also played audio recordings of Johnson’s interview at the Columbia Police Department. In the recording, Johnson said she changed clothes after taking a shower.
Police questioned Johnson about a text message she sent to Jynasha Hill at 4:30 a.m. that appeared to reference looking for drugs. Johnson denied sending the message, claiming she was asleep at the time and that she “hadn’t done drugs in a long time.” She later said the last time she used meth was on Friday.
In the interview, Johnson continued to deny that she knew what had happened to the baby, saying she put her to bed while she was just wearing a diaper.
The interview also showed police questioning Johnson about a baby onesie found in a kitchen cabinet and about what she was wearing on the day of the incident. Johnson repeatedly said she did not know what happened.
Police then pressed Johnson about text messages sent throughout the night, messages that appeared to inquire about drugs, despite her earlier statement that she was asleep during that time.
The state then showed logs from Johnson’s phone that show Facebook messages from Johnson to another person asking for money at the same time she said she was asleep.