Rebecca Gussage-Johnston (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
A Florida mother who “unlawfully caged/restrained” her 2-year-old son in a booster seat overnight and for “approximately fifteen hours” as punishment for “acting out” now faces capital felony charges, the sheriff’s office said.
Rebecca Louise Gussage-Johnston, 24, was charged last Thursday, June 15, with first-degree murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse, nearly one month after the suspect was initially arrested on lesser charges, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced.
According to the criminal information filed on June 6, charging the defendant with aggravated child abuse and child neglect (with great bodily harm), Gussage-Johnston was accused of “willfully torturing, maliciously punishing, or willfully and unlawfully caging or did knowingly or willfully abuse and in so doing did cause great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement” to her son between May 18 and May 19, 2023.
After investigators received a call from Gussage-Johnston’s concerned relative, the affidavit of probable cause, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office responded on the night of May 19 to a Tampa-area residence described as a “white/tan 1992 mobile RV […] parked in a truck lot located at 10025 N US Highway 301, Thonotosassa, Florida 33637.”
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Once at the scene, authorities’ worst fears were confirmed.
“Upon arrival, Deputies encountered the victim to be deceased and suffering from trauma to [his] head, a wound to [his] right thigh, and bruising throughout [his] extremity area,” the affidavit said. “Additionally, the victim was covered in dried vomit and fecal matter.”
Investigators interviewed Gussage-Johnston before she was in custody and that she “admitted to having strapped the victim in a table booster seat to enact a punishment for the victim acting out and screaming on May 18, 2023 at approximately 2000 hours,” documents said. “The victim remained confined and strapped in the table booster seat from May 18, 2023 at 2000 hours until May 19, 2023 at either 1030 or 1100 hours.”
Deputies said that the defendant “failed to supervise and provide the medical services needed to properly render aide” to the victim for nearly 24 hours — even after the mother allegedly found the boy on the floor having a seizure the next morning.
“The defendant last observed the victim to be asleep in the table booster seat-sitting upright on May 19, 2023 around 0000 hours. The defendant discovered the victim in the morning on May 19, 2023 to be laying on the floor on right side, still restrained by the table booster seat, bút having flipped over and no longer upright.”
Deputies said Gussage-Johnston watched her son die rather than calling for help right away.
“The defendant admitted to watching the victim suffer from seizures and shaking uncontrollably,” the affidavit continued. “The defendant described to having watched the victim take their last breath and perish in her arms.”
Murder charges were filed after the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the case a homicide caused by severe neglect, the sheriff’s office said.
“The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has unrelenting fervor in our pursuit of justice for innocent children hurt by criminals,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “It is truly heart-wrenching to witness such senseless and preventable acts of violence targeting our youth. The tenacity of our detectives has allowed us to ensure this woman faces the consequences of her disgusting actions.”
Court records say the suspect is represented by a public defender.
Read the information, affidavit, and warrant.
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