Mom, great-grandmother indicted on child endangering charges for starving 3 children, prosecutor’s office says

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The mother of three children and their paternal great-grandmother have been indicted after the children were found to be “near-fatalities” due to starvation, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

The biological mother, Hannah Johnson, has been indicted on six counts of endangering children and two counts of kidnapping, court documents say.

According to the documents, the children’s great-grandmother, Dianna Johnson, has been indicted on three counts of endangering children.

Prosecutors say Hannah and Dianna lived together with the children - ages 7, 6 and 4.

Police were originally called to their house because of a suspicious odor, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said.

Spokeswoman Amy Clausing says the police were told there was a dead raccoon under the porch

Officers did not see the children, Clausing said.

After the officers left, Hannah took all of the children to her mother’s house in Tennessee, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Clausing says when Hannah’s mother saw the condition the children were in, she immediately took them to the hospital.

Prosecutors say all three kids weighed less than 30 pounds and will require months of hospitalization.

Cincinnati police are investigating.

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