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| Erica Michelle Marie Green (1997 - 2001) |
WARNING: This post contains details relating to child abuse, murder, and decapitation. Viewer discretion advised!
A few blog posts ago, I discussed the disturbing case of St. Louis Jane Doe, a pre-teen Black girl whose decapitated body was found in a Missouri house. It's a rather haunting unsolved case to do this day. This is a case I mentioned with it as a comparison, as it also involved a decapitated Black girl found in Missouri.
Thankfully, unlike Precious Hope, this precious girl- aptly nicknamed Precious Doe, would eventually get justice. That girl would be Erica Michelle Marie Green. Today's case will be heavy, so only read if you have a strong stomach.
Before we begin, I would just like to mention that Erica Green was actually coincidentally born on May 15th (1997), which some of you may know is my birthday! Every time I celebrate my birthday, I will also celebrate Erica, knowing she should be celebrating it to, and she tragically won't be able to, due to the monsters we'll be talking about today. Let's get into it.
Erica's Life
As mentioned, Erica Green was born on May 15th, 1997, in McLoud, Oklahoma to her mother, Michelle Johnson, and father, Larry Green; she was the youngest of 9 children. At the time, Michelle was incarcerated, so already Erica had a tough start in life. Erica would soon be placed in foster care and be raised by her great-grandmother's friend, Betty Brown, in Oklahoma.
Like many toddlers, Erica was described as innocent and fun-loving, as she loves to dress up. Betty Brown also described her as self-reliant for a young girl.
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| Erica Green |
However, on April 4th, 2001, things would soon go south for Erica again. Michelle was released from prison, and took her back to Kansas City, Missouri. At the time, Michelle had a new boyfriend, Harrell Johnson. Later reports from Johnson's cousins would say Erica had a miserable time living with her mom, and wanted to be return to Betty.
Both Harrell and Michelle were heavy drug users. Harrell was physically and verbally abusive towards Erica, and repeadtly beat her over minor accidents. What is even more abominable is that her mother didn't do much about the abuse. Eventually, this abuse would soon end poor Erica's life.
Erica's Death
One evening in late April (mere weeks before Erica's 4th birthday), Erica had refused to go to bed, her parents were enraged. Reportedly, Harrell was high at the time.
Her step-father then repeadtly beat her with an ashtray and kicked her, until she stopped responding. Once both he and Michelle realized what happened, they began to panic. They tried to revive her, and hours passed, but it was too late. Erica Green had passed. However, they weren't going to go to the police to report what they had done, and instead try and conceal their crime in a horrendous way.
Her step father used a pair of hedge clippers to behead her, and her "mother" assisted in disposing her daughter’s remains. Initally they tried to dispose of Erica near a church, but they decided on the woods as it would be harder to find the body.
Afterwards, Michelle would lie about what happened to Erica, claiming she went back to live with Betty Brown, and for years, Michelle and Harell would hide the truth of the girl's death. Soon enough however, Erica would be found...
Precious Doe
Kansas City, Missouri. On April 28th, 2001, police were searching for a missing elderly man and going through the woods. While conducting the search, one officer found something unexpected and gruesome.
It was the headless body of a young Black girl, about 3 - 6 years old. Her cause of death was repeat blunt force trauma, done by being kicked and beaten with an ashtray found near the crime scene. She had signs of previous abuse and had been dead for at most a day. She also had a distinct birth-mark on her right shoulder.
News of the girl's murder was broadcasted, shocking and sickening many. A few days later, on May 1st, the victim's head was found not too far from the rest of her remains. It was wrapped in a plastic bag and was badly decomposed. Despite this, it still revealed the young girl had a fresh set of cornrows in her black hair. The murdered girl was nicknamed Precious Doe.
Reconstructions of Erica were produced in an attempt to identify her. Here are some of them:
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| NCMEC Reconstruction of Precious Doe (Erica Green) |
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Reconstruction by Frank Bender
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| Sketch |
Identification
Eventually, with the help of Betty Brown (Erica's former caretaker) speaking up, and testimonies from Erica's step-fathers' cousin, Precious Doe was identified as Erica Green, and her "parents" were arrested for her murder.
On October 8, 2008, Harrell was sentenced to life for murdering Erica, and Michelle received 25 years in exchange for a plea deal. Erica has since been laid to rest in Missouri.
Ending Thoughts
This was a painful case to write about. I find child abuse to be one of the evilest things to do in the world, because children are so innocent and they haven't done anything that would warrant that. I don't get why Erica was returned to her mother and step-father when Betty was caring for her already.
The fact anyone could genuinely abuse and even decapitate a young girl is horrible to think about. What's also disgusting is how her excuse of a mother, Michelle, acted in all this. Michelle took her daughter away from someone she liked, and helped conceal her murder. How could you do that to your own daughter, someone you birthed, someone you should have loved? Personally, I think she also should have gotten life.
Thankfully, with how dedicated forensic scientists were in this case, and Betty opening up about Erica, we were able to bring justice to Erica after her death. Despite what tragically happened to her, there were people who cared about this young girl, not her "parents". I hope they rot away in prison for the rest of their lives.
Sweet Erica, I hope you fly high. You looked very adorable and I think you could have grown up to be a lovely woman if you didn't get screwed over this early in life. I wish you a happy early birthday in Heaven!
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| Erica Green |
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
- ninesevenpotatoes, 2026
