LYKENS, Pa. — A Dauphin County couple has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in connection to the death of a 10-year-old girl with physical and mental disabilities in 2022, according to State Police.
Kimberly A. Johnson, 39, and her boyfriend, Jacob K. Snyder, 34, were charged nearly two years after the death of Johnson's daughter, Zada, who died of suffocation when her tracheotomy tube became blocked.
Johnson and Snyder, who were Zada Johnson's caregivers, did not clear the tube, the State Police investigation determined.
According to criminal complaint affidavits filed against Kimberly Johnson and Snyder, State Police were dispatched to the couple's Lykens home at 8 a.m. on April 10, 2022 in response to a report of an unresponsive child.
When they arrived, troopers found the body of Zada Johnson lying on the floor of her first-floor bedroom. She was dressed in only a diaper, according to the complaints. The room had a baby monitor and motion-activated surveillance camera set up inside, investigators discovered.
Snyder told police that Zada Johnson was diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. She suffered from repeated seizures and depended on a tracheotomy tube, a feeding tub, and a pulse-oxygen machine to measure her heart rate and oxygen levels as a result of her condition.
Snyder reportedly told police "this is a natural death."
Kimberly Johnson told police her daughter had suffered from significant health issues since she was a baby and was not expected to live past the age of 2. Her care requirements were similar to that of a newborn, with feedings and medications several times a day.
Kimberly Johnson told police her daughter's health seemed stable the night before she died, the complaint states.
At about 7:30 that morning, Kimberly Johnson reported, the alarms in her daughter's room activated, signaling a medical emergency. She said she went to her daughter's room and cleared the tracheotomy tube, but by then her daughter was already cold and did not appear to be be breathing.
But when police reviewed surveillance footage from the camera in Zada Johnson's room, they learned Kimberly Johnson did not go to her daughter's room when she said she did and did not make an effort to clear the blockage in the tracheotomy tube, the complaint states.
The footage also showed that neither Kimberly Johnson nor Snyder showed any urgency in responding to the medical alarms, according to police. In the footage, the couple is shown casually walking down the stairs at 7:58 and 7:59 a.m.
Snyder is seen grabbing a bag of potato chips and yelling to Kimberly Johnson about the alarms, which were still sounding, according to police.
An autopsy on Zada Johnson determined her tube was fully blocked at the time of her death. The coroner's office said Zada Johnson died sometime between 11 p.m. on April 9 and 7 a.m. on April 10, meaning she could have been dead for hours by the time her caretakers showed up to attend to her.
Police said Snyder became more and more defensive when being questioned.
He allegedly claimed he was unable to hear the alarm sounding from Zada Johnson's oxygen machine, despite the fact that both the feeding and oxygen machine alarms were still clearly audible during his interview.
Police also said cell phone records and surveillance footage showed Johnson and Snyder left Zada Johnson at home either alone or under the care of a medically unqualified teenager at least 25 times.
When asked about that, Snyder allegedly told police, "The only thing that matters is that there's someone there with her to dial 911," according to the complaint.
Police say Snyder later admitted to lying to medical staff about his certification to take care of Zada Johnson's tracheotomy tube, and said he and Kimberly Johnson had ignored alarms in the past unless they heard her daughter gurgling.
Police also interviewed Kimberly Johnson's teenage son, who reportedly told them he was regularly left at home alone to care for his sister. He called caring for her "stressful" and said he was the only family member who would "actually do anything" when it came to her care, according to the complaint.
He also told police Kimberly Johnson regularly spent funds for her daughter's medical needs on marijuana, which she shared with her underage children, the complaint states.
Snyder and Johnson were arraigned on the charges on April 10, according to court records. Bail for Johnson was set at $10,000, while Snyder's bail is $100,000.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 24.
