Left: Z’ibreyea S. Parker. Right: Hilary Johnson II (Norfolk Police Department). Inset: I’ijayah Johnson (GoFundMe).
A Virginia woman pleaded guilty after her daughter died at just 9 days old with burns and broken bones throughout her body that the new mom deemed “were not all that serious,” according to authorities.
Z’ibreyea S. Parker, 24, entered a guilty plea to child abuse with serious injury for the death of her daughter I’ijayah Johnson, court records show. The child’s father, Hilary Johnson II, 22, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this month.
According to the Norfolk Police Department, officers were called to the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters around 1:15 p.m. May 4, 2024, for a child abuse investigation. Cops later learned the girl showed up unresponsive to the hospital “showing signs of abuse.” Doctors pronounced the girl dead.
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Two days later, the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide and Parker and Johnson were charged with second-degree murder and child abuse. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the murder charge against Parker.
Local CBS affiliate WTKR, citing court documents, reported the girl had “severe burns on both feet as well as splash burns on other areas of her body.” She also reportedly had broken ribs and broken clavicle, bruises on her head and showed signs that she was shaken. Despite all the heinous injuries to her child, Parker claimed the injuries “were not all that serious.”
Investigators also discovered the parents and child were homeless and had been living in a tent under a highway.
Johnson’s father, Hilary Johnson Sr. said 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.”
The younger Johnson and Parker are slated to be sentenced on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31, respectively.
