RANASIA KNIGHT - 2 yo - (Jan 2013) / Charged: Mother's boyfriend Lester Johnson - Lancaster, PA

Lancaster man arrested for killing girlfriend's toddler

Published: 1/15 12:12 pm
Updated: 1/15 6:42 pm

Ranasia Knight was only two-years-old when police say she was killed, by her mother’s boyfriend.

Justin Bachman, Knight's uncle says the feeling is a hard thing to grasp. “No one knows how it feels to bury a two-year-old.”

Bachman says, he doesn’t know what to think. He just found out that police say his niece, was killed by Lester Johnson. Johnson was Knight's mother's boyfriend.

“He was a decent guy. He took care of his kids and did all that stuff." Bachman said about Johnson. "I don’t know. I never saw any of them hurt their kids, especially my sister.”

Early Saturday morning, Lancaster police responded to a house on the 500 block of East Ross Street for a two-year-old who had reportedly fallen.

When they got there, Knight was severely hurt and died a few hours later. An autopsy revealed she was beaten to death.

Johnson was arrested soon after and charged with criminal homicide. Court papers say the 30-year-old, also known as "Face", admitted to punching Ranasia in the head and then kicking her in the stomach while she was on the floor, but he never called for medical help to save her.

A neighbor who has known the family for a year says this doesn't surprise them. “Does this surprise you? No. It doesn’t surprise you? No. Why would you say that? I don’t want to talk anymore. I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Johnson lived in the house with Ranasia’s mom. They had four kids between them.

Johnson has a previous criminal record of assault and other violent crimes.

“I want justice done if he did this," Bachman said.

Johnson is currently sitting in the Lancaster Prison without bail. The other children have been removed from the house.

Shortly after 3:00 a.m., Saturday, Officers with the Lancaster City Police were dispatched to an address in 500 Blk E. Ross Street for a report of an injured child.

The call was initally for a report of a child who was injured from a fall. Officers arrived and found the child in and out of conciousness and she was taken to Lancaster General Hospital.

The child, 2-year-old Ranasia Knight, did not survive her injuries and was pronounced dead on Saturday morning.

Officials noticed bruising on Knight's head and also her abnormally bloated abdomen.

Both the child's mother and mother's boyfriend were interviewed by Detectives, but were released as the investigation continued.

Following an autopsy on Monday, officials determined Knight died from multiple traumatic injuries and the death was ruled a homicide.

Police interviewed Knight's mother and her mother's boyfriend for a second time, and the boyfriend was arrested and charged with criminal homicide.


Lester L. Johnson, 30, was charged with Criminal homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children.

Johnson was arraigned and taken to Lancaster County Prison with no bail set.

According to police, Johnson both punched and kicked the child in her head and abdomen multiple times.

Police are still investigating.


http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/Lancaster-man-arrested-for-killing-girlfriends/BIow8iHTQk6qQ-_52mq7DA.cspx

Mother's anguish as funeral home leaves her two-year-old daughter's body to rot after toddler was killed by her ex-boyfriend

• Ranasia Knight 'was kicked and punched by her mother's ex-boyfriend'
  
• Three weeks later her body was found decomposed at a funeral home
  
• Three
  other bodies - including two women who passed away in December - were
  also found and the funeral director has been arrested
  
• Another funeral home has now attended to Ranasia's body at no cost
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 13:50 EST, 11 February 2013 | UPDATED: 14:10 EST, 11 February 2013


A mother whose two-year-old daughter was allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend has been left with yet more anguish - after she learned the child's body had been left rotting in a funeral home basement.

The body of Ranasia Knight was just one of four found badly decomposed at the Gundel Funeral Home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania after the funeral director had promised to cremate their bodies.

The young girl died in an emergency room on January 12 and at first her heart-broken mother, Jessica Bachman, thought the girl had fallen down some stairs.

But two days later, Bachman's former boyfriend, Lester Johnson, admitted to punching and kicking the young girl, leaving her blind in one eye and fatally injured. He was arrested.



Heartbreak: Jessica Bachman sobs as she recounts how police told her the body of
her murdered two-year-old daughter had been found badly decomposed in a
funeral home




Victim: Two-year-old Ranasia Knight suffered fatal injuries after she was kicked by her mother's boyfriend

Police knocked on her door on February 1 to tell her that her daughter's badly decomposed body had been found on a table in the basement of a nearby funeral home, Lancaster Online reported.

A friend had paid the funeral director, Benjamin M. Siar Jr., $400 for Ranasia's final arrangements and he promised to have her cremated and the ashes delivered to Bachman, she said.

But he refused to pick up her calls and made excuses for delays, she said.

'This man knew all the stuff I'm going through,' she told Lancaster Online. 'It's bad enough that I had to lose my daughter to a murder. This man came to my house. This man told me my daughter was in good hands.'



Sick: Lester Johnson, pictured, admitted to kicking and punching the girl.
Just three days before her death he posted this picture to Facebook
saying he wished he had a 'One Free Murder' voucher

The Groffs Family Funeral & Cremation Services Inc. took over Ranasia's care at no charge, and her mother has now received her ashes. She wears some in a small locket around her neck.

The tiny body was just one of four found at Siar's business, the Gundel Funeral Home.

Authorities also found the decomposing bodies of Rosa Kleinhaus, 76, who had died on December 20, M. Elizabeth Zug, 97, who died December 26 and Sandra J. Hotchkiss, 71, who died January 21.

Siar, 41, is now in Lancaster County Prison and faces numerous charges, including abuse of a corpse and theft by deception.


Anguish: Jessica Bachman, pictured, said the funeral director had refused to pick up her calls


Remembered: She now wears some of her daughter's ashes in a heart-shaped locket around her neck

The Pennsylvania Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs also filed a 24-count complaint against Siar which could cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, as well as his license.

Authorities found the bodies during a raid of Siar's funeral home after they heard claims from other people that Siar had taken their money but had not followed through with cremations.

Ron Ruman, press secretary for the PA Department of State, told WHPTV:

'Among other things, they have alleged this individual has violated the act through a gross incompetence, misconduct and negligence and carrying on the duties of being in a funeral director, in addition to some other charges.'



Accused: Funeral director Benjamin Siar, pictured, now faces criminal charges and could lose his license


Scene: Three other decomposing bodies were found at the Gundel Funeral Home in Conestoga

He said the board will now decide how to deal with the charges: 'Their number one job is to protect the public health and safety, so they'll look into these allegations.'

Siar, who turned himself in to county detectives after the bodies were found, acknowledged a backlog' of bodies to be cremated.

But he blamed the delays on Lancaster County Coroner's Office for the delays, which county coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni has since denied.

'I will fully take responsibility for anything I've done wrong,' Siar said, but 'this is just getting absurd'.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2277059/Mothers-anguish-funeral-home-left-year-old-daughters-body-rot-girl-killed-boyfriend.html#ixzz2KeR0be9D

Where was the mother while her baby was being beaten to death?

Another POS mother. Another POS boyfriend. Another dead precious baby.

I question whether the mother is actually grieving this horrible turn of events or seeing it as a way to collect money.

She brought this man into her baby's life. She allowed him to beat her baby.

JMO.

Is Lancaster man’s confession to fatal beating of 2-year-old girl fair game at trial?


Lester L. Johnson



Posted: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 9:40 am | Updated: 10:25 am, Tue Feb 4, 2014.

By BRETT HAMBRIGHT | Staff Writer

Prosecutors say Lester Johnson’s confession is fair game at his upcoming capital murder trial.

Defense attorneys, however, want to quash Johnson’s statements to police, made days after he allegedly killed his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter in January 2013.

Lancaster County Judge James Cullen is expected to make a ruling after both sides file briefs explaining their positions.

Johnson, 31, will be tried, possibly next month, for allegedly punching and kicking Ranasia Knight to death inside a Lancaster city home, then failing to summon help.

The confession ruling is expected to play a major role in the case.

Johnson gave a pair of statements to Lancaster city police detectives, on Jan. 12 and Jan. 14, 2014, according to court documents.

In the second interview, Johnson made incriminating statements to Detective Mike Winters, according to those filings.

Johnson’s defense lawyers David Blanck and Patricia Spotts are challenging how police obtained those statements.

Assistant District Attorney Randall L. Miller, lead prosecutor, has argued the statements should be part of trial. He will seek a first-degree murder conviction and the death penalty.

Prosecutors believe the case might merit the death penalty because of the victim’s age and Johnson’s criminal history. Johnson has prior felony convictions for attempted robbery and conspiracy stemming from two separate incidents in Maryland, according to court records.

Cullen also is expected to rule soon on whether the death penalty can be pursued.

Johnson’s defense team has suggested that his low-level intelligence should spare him from that possibility.

To make matters worse for the victim’s family, according to police, Ranasia’s body was neglected by Gundel Funeral Home, which was tasked with her funeral and cremation arrangements.

The treatment of Ranasia’s body, along with other cases, prompted police to charge Benjamin Siar Jr., director of the funeral home, with a number of crimes.

On Jan. 9 — two days before police say Johnson beat the girl — Johnson posted a satirical coupon on his social-media page stating: “ONE FREE MURDER. This voucher entitles you to commit one murder without legal, social or financial consequence.”
Johnson’s commentary on the coupon reads: “Wish I had one of these and it was official. ... lol (laugh out loud).”

That posting, expected to be presented at trial, hasn’t been challenged.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/is-lancaster-man-s-confession-to-fatal-beating-of-/article_3dcf1570-8daa-11e3-9316-0017a43b2370.html