Mother sentenced to life in prison for murder of 3-year-old daughter

TAWAS, Mich. (WNEM/Gray News) - A Michigan mother was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing her 3-year-old daughter.

On Monday, Justine Johnson was sentenced to life in prison for her daughter’s murder.

The Oscoda Township Police Department said its officers responded to a call at a Tawas home on Sept. 17, 2021 for the report of a small human foot seen protruding from a garbage bag outside a home.

When they arrived, officers said they found the remains of 3-year-old Sutton Mosser wrapped in bedding and put in the garbage bag. Court records said the toddler was dressed only in a pink and white disposable diaper.

WNEM reports Sutton died from multiple stab wounds.

Police found Johnson, Sutton’s mother, a few hours later.

Officers told Johnson her daughter was dead but said she gave “no reaction to the news of her daughter being deceased and appeared unemotional.”

Authorities charged Johnson in her daughter’s murder. She pleaded guilty to homicide and child abuse on Feb. 14, 2022 after she reportedly told social workers Spongebob Squarepants told her to kill her daughter.