Precious Doe

Who was Precious Doe?

Precious Doe was a pseudonym assigned to an unidentified female corpse discovered on April 28, 2001, in Kansas City, Missouri. The girl had been murdered and decapitated. The body was naked and the head was wrapped in a trash bag and dumped nearby. The brutality of the crime, and the fact that the child went unidentified for a long period, sparked national interest. In an effort to identify the girl, police released sketches, computerized likenesses, and at least two busts depicting the victim. The case was featured on the TV programs America's Most Wanted and Cold Case Files several times. On May 5, 2005, the body was identified as Erica Michelle Marie Green, age three, and her mother Michelle Johnson and stepfather Harrell Johnson were charged with her murder and extradited from Oklahoma to face charges in Missouri. The eight other children of Erica's mother were taken into state custody or placed with relatives. On December 3, 2005, prosecutors announced that they would seek the death penalty against Erica's stepfather, Harrell Johnson. Police have said that after Erica died, Harrell Johnson said he used hedge clippers to sever her head. Johnson's cousin, Lawanda Driskell, said that Erica's mother helped Harrell dispose of the body by taking Erica from the house as if sleeping in a stroller and telling Driskell she had given Erica to the woman who had raised her.