Crime & Safety
Police: Arnold Father Admits to Shaking Infant
Jamell Johnson was charged Tuesday with child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child after his daughter Aliyah McFarland died from injuries sustained during the abuse.
Home alone with his infant daughter, Jamell Michael Johnson said he shook, spanked and squeezed her, eventually causing her death, according to police.
Aliyah McFarland, 18-months-old, had “bilateral retinal hemorrhages, severe head injury with right frontal hemorrhage and cerebral edema,” as well as bruises on her face, buttock, and upper leg, according to the Arnold Police Department Probable Cause Statement.
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A doctor at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital told police Aliyah died there due to the injuries she had sustained.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s office charged Johnson, 21, with first-degree child abuse, a class A felony, and first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, a class C felony.
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Police said Johnson called 911 Sunday asking for an ambulance at his home on Crosswinds Drive in Arnold, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The ambulance took 18-month-old Aliyah to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center.
Aliyah was on a ventilator, declared brain-dead and finally taken off life support Monday.
As news about Aliyah's death spread, for her.
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