The funeral home’s obituary for John Thomas Johnson, who died in September 2022 at the age of 52, describes him as the “beloved husband” of Hannah Johnson and a “loving father” to their children.
But John Johnson was Hannah Johnson’s uncle, and according to court documents and Hannah’s attorney , he fathered four children with her and first got her pregnant when she was 18. Hannah Johnson’s own father, according to her attorney, allowed John Johnson, a registered sex offender, to take her into his home as his “common law wife.”
Three of the children − who were 4, 6 and 7 when authorities first saw them last year − lived in Cincinnati but never went to school, were apparently never taught how to eat, were severely malnourished, wore diapers, were nonverbal and could not walk, court documents say.
According to a social worker, the fourth child, a boy whose age was redacted in court records, did not appear as malnourished as his siblings but also had never attended school, wore a diaper, had “difficulty walking” and struggled to use a spoon…