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GRAND JUNCTION, CO – Police say 29-year-old Shanna Gossett kept her niece strapped in a high chair in a closet for two weeks before slamming the girl’s head into a wall, killing her.
The more details that come out about this case, the more messed up it gets. As usual with these child abuse stories, if I am writing it up, then you know it’s a bad one.
On March 17, medical crews responded to a 911 call regarding an unresponsive child. When they arrived at the home they found 3-year-old Bethannie Johnson lying in the middle of the living room floor unresponsive.
Police and paramedics noted Bethannie was severely bruised on her head, abdomen and legs. She also had dried blood in her airway that was indicative of past injuries.
Paramedics managed to get the girl breathing again, but she would be pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. An autopsy found she had multiple internal and external head injuries and concluded she died of blunt force trauma.
When questioned by detectives, Gosset said she was Bethannie’s legal guardian and that she stays at the address because she provides child care for the person who lives there. She said that Bethannie suffered from reactive attachment disorder and often threw herself into things.
She said that two weeks ago she had given the child back to her sister – Bethannie’s biological mother – because she needed a break. On March 16, she said her sister showed up, handed her Bethannie and walked away. Gossett said the girl had a bloody nose that she cleaned up before putting her to bed. When she woke up the following morning she found the girl unresponsive and called 911.
Police contacted Gossett’s sister who told police her sister was lying, and that she had been in Texas for the two weeks before her daughter’s death. When investigators confronted Gossett with this information, she changed her story.
She told police she couldn’t control Bethannie, so she strapped her in a high chair and placed the child in a closet for two weeks. She said she would take her out to feed and bathe her, but police believe the girl was “pretty consistently” confined to the closet.
On March 15, Gossett said the girl threw a temper tantrum while out of the closet, so Gossett pushed her into a vacuum cleaner. When the girl stood up, Gossett slammed the girl’s head into a wall. That did the trick and Bethannie did not get back up… but she was also no longer breathing. Gossett said she performed CPR and got her breathing again, but she remained unresponsive.
So Gossett did the only thing she could – she shoved the little girl’s body under a bed where she left her until the following night. That’s when she put Bethannie in her crib and waited until the next morning to “find” her not breathing and have the other person living in the home call 911.
Gossett was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death, second-degree kidnapping and false imprisonment. She is being held in the Mesa County Jail without bail.
The person who lived in the home had no idea Bethannie was even in the house in the two weeks before she was murdered, believing she was with her biological mother. Detective Brandon Ludwig said they are waiting on toxicology results on Bethannie to see if alcohol or drugs may have played a role.
This article was written by Morbid for The Dreamin Demon - the Internet's self-appointed buzzkill.
