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Family, friends gather to say goodbye to Layla Johnson, babysitter facing charges

by WHAS11

WHAS11.com

Posted on February 2, 2012 at 1:17 PM

Updated Thursday, Feb 23 at 6:51 PM

(WHAS11) -- Funeral arrangements have been made for two-year-old Layla Johnson. Johnson's babysitter has been charged with murder after alleged abuse.

Visitation for Johnson will be Thursday Feb. 2 from 1 p.m.-8 p.m. at the Coffey and Chism funeral home in Vine Grove.

The funeral will Friday Feb. 3  at 2 p.m. at the Gloryland Harvest Church in Radcliff, Ky. Burial will follow at the North Hardin Memorial Gardens.

Instead of flowers, the family is asking for toy donations that they will give to Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville.

Police say babysitter Ashley Chapman hit and shook the two-year-old. Johnson died from her injuries Sunday at Kosair Children's Hospital.

Kentucky State Police say they have more than enough evidence to charge Ashley Chapman with murder. Police are trying to determine if the child had been abused prior to last week's incident.

"She'd been watching the child since the end of 2011, so probably several weeks she had been watching the child," said Kentucky State Police spokesperson Norman Chaffins.

Ashley Chapman was officially charged with murder just before 3 p.m. Monday afternoon.

Police say Chapman was watching 2-year-old Layla Johnson when something went wrong.

"Based on that conversation the mother determined she needed to pick up the child immediately. The grandmother went to pick her up. When the grandmother got there, she realized she was in trouble and she needed to get her to the hospital," said Chaffins.

Chapman told police she had worked in the past in a daycare center in Radcliff,  but that business is now closed.

WHAS11 discovered that Chapman has been arrested in the past for receiving stolen property, possession of a forged instrument and falsely reporting an incident, but has not been arrested in Hardin County for any prior violent crimes.

Layla's organs were donated by her family to benefit other children.

An autopsy will be conducted Tuesday to determine the exact cause of death and to see if there were any prior injuries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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