CHARLOTTE, N.C. (TCD) — Law enforcement officials recently arrested a man in California on suspicion of killing a North Carolina mother and her two young children whose remains were found in an apartment last week.
According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, officers received a missing persons report on March 3 for 22-year-old Markayla Johnson and her two children, 4-year-old Miracle Johnson and 7-month-old Messiah Johnson. On Friday, March 15, officers served a search warrant at the victim’s last known location, an apartment in the 400 block of Orchard Trace Lane, where they found human remains and determined a crime had occurred.
Upon further investigation, police determined the remains belong to the missing victims, but the Medical Examiner’s Office will confirm their identities. Officers did not say how they died.
In a press conference held March 16, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Chief of Police Johnny Jennings said officers were searching for a person of interest they believe was in a relationship with Markayla Johnson.
Detectives charged the suspect, identified by police as 35-year-old Benjamin Taylor, with three counts of murder and one count of concealment of death. With the help of multiple law enforcement agencies, officials located Taylor in Imperial County, California, and took him into custody on Saturday, March 16. He will be held in the Imperial County Jail until he is extradited back to North Carolina.
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