Woman arrested in Baltimore for driving around with bodies in trunk

Baltimore County Police discovered the bodies of two children in the trunk of their aunt’s car on Wednesday.

33-year-old Nicole Johnson had allegedly hit her 7-year-old niece on the head in a fit of anger and subsequently hid the body in the trunk of her car in May 2020.

Johnson told the police that she put her 5-year-old nephew’s body in the trunk a year later, without providing details about how or when he died.

Documents obtained by local media outlets stated that Johnson told detectives that her sister, Dachelle Johnson, had asked her to look after the kids in 2019 when she was unable to care for them.

Local police initially stopped her as she had been driving without a license and were going to tow her car.

The officer smelled the decomposing bodies while prepping the car to be towed, according to police documents. Johnson attempted to flee the scene when the officer opened the trunk and uncovered the first body in a suitcase before discovering the second in a plastic bag. The woman was then taken into custody.

She has been charged with multiple counts of neglect and child abuse charges, as well as failing to report the deaths to authorities and unauthorised disposal of their bodies.

“Due to the nature of this case, it will take time to determine the exact circumstances that led to the children’s deaths,” Baltimore law enforcement said on Friday.