A mother and her boyfriend have been charged in the death of her 8-year-old daughter.
Samantha Johnson, 30, and her boyfriend, Dhante Jackson, 34, were charged Monday with murder and child abuse in the death of Johnson’s daughter, Sophia Mason.
Sophia was reported missing by relatives in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this month. The little girl’s aunt described a “disturbing” phone call between Johnson and her mother.
On this phone call, Johnson said she would be traveling in-state without Sophia because she “gave her away.”
This information, as well as the missing person report prompted police to arrest the mother on a warrant stemming from a case of child abuse in Alameda County last year.
Law enforcement officials then received a search warrant for the boyfriend’s residence. That’s when police found Sophia’s life-less body in a bathtub, inside a locked bathroom.
The mother told detectives that Jackson, her boyfriend, kept Sophia in a shed outside. She claims the Jackson would sexually and physically abuse her daughter. Legal documents indicate that detectives found evidence that supports her statement.
Officials have not released a cause of death at this time. Results are pending the autopsy and toxicology report.
Johnson is currently being held without bond. Jackson, however, went on-the-run as soon as he heard word of police searching his property. He has yet to be located at this time.
