Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the incident that occurred on Dec. 18, when a 27-year-old Pontiac woman, Letitia Johnson, scalded a 21-month-old baby in an Orion Township apartment, was no accident.
‘We requested a murder warrant,? he said. ‘The little girl had third degree burns on 40 percent of her body. As I understand, she died of dehydration as a result of the burns.?
The little girl, named Jasmine, was being taken care of at the Waldon Lakes Apartment on Elmhurst Circle where her father, a 27-year-old Orion Township man, lived. Johnson is his girlfriend and is not Jasmine’s mother.
Johnson was arraigned on a charge of second-degree murder on Dec. 22 in the 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills. If convicted, she faces life in prison.
Jasmine was pronounced dead on Dec. 19 at POH Medical Center in Pontiac, where she was taken after her father discovered her unconcious, and with her skin peeling off.
OCSD investigators say Jasmine was dunked from the waist down in water that was 147 degrees, causing instant third-degree burns.
Johnson slathered the wounds with petroleum jelly and put the child to bed, according to the OCSD.
Jasmines’s father was at work at the time of the incident, and Bouchard said the OCSD has no plans at this time to charge him with anything.
‘There were four other children in the home that have been removed and placed with relatives,? Bouchard said.
Johnson, who is pregnant, is the mother of three of those children that were living in the apartment home.
A neglect petition has been filed to terminate Johnson’s parental rights, with a hearing scheduled for January.