Left: Z'ibreyea S. Parker. Right: Hilary Johnson II (Norfolk Police Department). Inset: I'ijayah Johnson (GoFundMe).
A mother and father from Virginia are headed to prison for beating their 9-day-old baby girl to death and burning her feet in hot liquid, and then laughing at the hospital, claiming the injuries "were not all that serious."
Hilary Johnson II, 24, will spend 19 years behind bars while 22-year-old Z'ibreyea S. Parker received a 10-year sentence in the death of their daughter I'ijayah Johnson, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney.
In August, Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while Parker entered a guilty plea to child abuse with serious injury. The parents brought I'ijayah to the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters on May 4, 2024. Hospital staff observed "signs of abuse" on the baby's body which included burns on the bottom of her feet, cuts on her head and face and bruises on back. Doctors pronounced her dead.
An autopsy determined she died of blunt force trauma to her head and torso and "deep partial-thickness burns" to her feet that were likely caused by hot liquid.
Johnson claimed his daughter fell out of a stroller two days before her death while he was jogging, but the injuries were not consistent with his explanation. Investigators could not establish which parent was more responsible for the baby's injuries but evidence pointed to Johnson, according to prosecutors.
Both parents claimed they didn't hurt their daughter. They told cops after I'ijayah fell out of the stroller, they treated her injuries with witch hazel, peroxide and gauze. But her appetite decreased and then they noticed she was no longer breathing. Rather than call 911, they took her to the hospital by riding public transportation, according to prosecutors.
"The parents struggled to provide a precise birthdate for their daughter and laughed while checking in," prosecutors said.
Local CBS affiliate WTKR, citing court documents, reported Parker claimed the injuries "were not all that serious."
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped the murder charge for Parker and the child abuse count for Johnson. At her sentencing, prosecutors asked for three years behind bars while her defense attorneys requested she be released after already having served roughly 16 months. But the judge sentenced her to 10 years, the maximum for child abuse. The judge sentenced Johnson to the maximum prison sentence allowed under the plea agreement.
"There is no victim more vulnerable than a newborn baby. I'ijayah came into the world in need of love and protection from her mother and father. What she got instead was suffering and death," said Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi. "This was a difficult case on the facts, and there were real risks in going to trial, since, while there was no doubt about the nature of I'ijayah's injuries, each parent could have blamed the other for inflicting them. In both cases, we secured a conviction and left the sentencing to the wisdom of the judge. We will continue to work the difficult cases and to honor the memory of innocent victims like I'ijayah who cannot speak for themselves."
As Law&Crime previously reported, investigators discovered the parents and child were homeless and had been living in a tent under a highway.
Johnson's father, Hilary Johnson Sr., told WTKR he expressed concerns to the hospital about the fitness of his son and Parker to be able to take care of I'ijayah after she was born.
"I said I feared for the girl's life," he said. "What in the world else am I supposed to do? Now, I got to bury my granddaughter because nobody listened."
In another interview with local NBC affiliate WAVY following the girl's death, the elder Johnson said the new parents struggled with their mental health.
"They was bright kids that I don't know what in the world snapped into them to live the way they were living," he said. "I prayed to myself before [I'ijayah] came here and I said, 'Lord, please let her maternal instincts kick in that she wants to protect that baby, that she don't want to live the way she was living, that she wants more for her and her child.'"
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where the girl was born, told WTKR that it has polices to "ensure that suspicions of child abuse or neglect and other reportable concerns are investigated in accordance with the law."
