Ohio police helicopter helps family track down missing 4-year-old child in field
The Ohio State Highway Patrol has released footage of a 4-year-old child's rescue in Xenia Township on July 20. (Credit: Ohio State Highway Patrol/LOCAL NEWS X/TMX)
An Ohio jury on Monday convicted a Kentucky man in the September 2010 disappearance of Paige Johnson, a 17-year-old single mom.
Jacob Bumpass, 35, was found guilty of abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence in connection with Johnson's mysterious death.
"We are pleased to have been able to bring some semblance of justice to the Johnson family", Clermont County Assistant Prosecutor Clay Tharp said in a Monday statement after the jury reached its decision.
The state was able to prove Bumpass was the last person to see Johnson, then the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, alive.
OHIO MAN CHARGED IN KENTUCKY TEEN'S 2010 DISAPPEARANCE, DEATH
Jacob Bumpass, 35, was found guilty of abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence in connection with Paige Johnson's death. (Clermont County Sheriff)
Johnson was reported missing to the Covington Police Department in Kentucky on Sept. 23, 2010. Prosecutors said Bumpass was her friend and the pair got in an argument at his home that day, when they say she died, and he tried to cover up her death, WLWT5 reported.
REMAINS OF PAIGE JOHNSON, 17, MISSING SINCE 2010, DISCOVERED IN OHIO, POLICE SAY
Bumpass initially said he dropped Johnson off at the intersection of 15th and Scott streets in Covington after she visited him that day.
Paige Johnson vanished on Sept. 23, 2010, before her remains were found. (Kentucky State Police)
A decade later, an individual looking for deer sheds in a wooded area of Williamsburg Township in Ohio – about 33 miles from where Bumpass said he last saw her – reported finding a human skull. Authorities found more remains over a three-day period.
A forensic dental consultant eventually identified the remains as belonging to Johnson. It is unclear exactly how Johnson died due to the state of her limited remains, according to local reports.
Jacob Bumpass initially said he dropped Paige Johnson off at an intersection in Covington, Kentucky, after she visited him that day. (Facebook/What Happened to Paige Johnson?)
Paige Johnson's mother, Donna Johnson, told reporters on Monday that the verdict made her feel like she was bringing her daughter back "home."
"It has been a long wait and that part has been very hard. So… the joy and the happiness with being able to bring her home finally and give her what she deserves after having to wait all this time is a feeling I can't even describe. It's just like I get to bring my baby home and give her the dignity she has deserved this whole time and has had to wait for," she said, according to WLWT5.
VIDEO SHOWS MOMENT MISSING OHIO BOY, 4, IS FOUND BY HIS FAMILY IN A FIELD
Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said his office hopes Monday's "verdict will bring justice" to Johnson's "friends and family."
Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said his office hopes Monday's "verdict will bring justice" to Paige Johnson's "friends and family." (Facebook/What Happened to Paige Johnson?)
"While I could not be more proud of my assistants’ work on this case, unfortunately, no amount of prison time will truly hold Bumpass accountable for all of the pain and suffering that he has caused over the last 13 years," he added.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Prosecutors argued that Bumpass' phone records placed him in Clermont County on the day of Johnson's disappearance, when they say he dumped her body in the woods "with a complete disregard for the value of her life. He dumped her like she was nothing more than a bag of trash," according to FOX 19 Cincinnati.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
