A mother has been sentenced to over ten years in prison for the death of her eight-year-old daughter, who was left to die in a shed. Samantha Johnson, 34, entered a plea of no contest to manslaughter and two counts of child abuse in the case of her daughter, Sophia Mason.
The murder charge against Johnson was dropped as part of a plea agreement, and she was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison by a judge on Thursday. Sophia’s body was discovered in a decomposed state in a bathroom on March 11, 2022, in Merced, US, after she was reported missing. Johnson was arrested immediately, while her boyfriend, Dhante Jackson, was taken into custody about six months later but was later released with credit for time served.
According to reports, Johnson, a California resident, had left Sophia with family members after her birth, and the girl was raised by her grandmother until Johnson regained custody in 2021. Despite at least seven reports of abuse over the following 15 months, social services reportedly did not intervene.
Sophia’s family expressed their disappointment in the sentencing, with her aunt Emerald Johnson stating in a victim impact statement that both Samantha and Dhante deserved harsher punishment. Another aunt, Lynn Linnen, accused Samantha of failing to protect Sophia, leading to her suffering and death.
Sophia was confined to a shed in the backyard during the final months of her life. Johnson claimed she last saw her daughter alive on February 10, 2022, after cleaning her in a bathroom. She then left Sophia alone with Jackson, hearing a noise soon after. The following day, Johnson assumed Sophia had run away when a door was left open, but no missing persons report was filed immediately.
Police discovered Sophia’s body a month later after days of searching. Johnson and Jackson refused to cooperate initially, leading to Johnson’s arrest for corporal injury on a child. A search of their home led to the tragic discovery of Sophia.
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