Crime & Safety
DA Charges Mother with Murder of Disabled Daughter
Christel Johnson, 53, was charged with murder on Monday in the death of her 8-year-old daughter.
The Alameda County District Attorney charged a San Leandro mother with murder on Monday in the death of her 8-year-old daughter, who was severely disabled.
The mother, Christel Johnson, 53, known to friends and neighbors as Jenny, is currently in police custody.
A caregiver discovered Johnson and her daughter Lylah, who suffered from cerebral palsy, on Friday afternoon inside a van in the family's garage. The car engine was running, and a hose was hooked from the tailpipe into the vehicle, according to Lt. Jeff Tudor, spokesman for the San Leandro Police Department.
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The girl was unconscious; Christel Johnson was semi-conscious, police said.
Lylah was taken to Children's Hospital in Oakland, where she was pronounced dead. The mother was taken to Eden Medical Center.
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San Leandro police are calling Lylah Johnson's death the third homicide of the year.
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