LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The identity of a 20-month-old infant was released Sunday, and neighbors recall the moment the body was found and events leading up to the investigation.
Brianna Johnson, 27, and Kyle Guindon, 22, were arrested around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 6 in the 1200 block of Centre Parkway in Lexington. Johnson is charged with Criminal Abuse 1st Degree. Guindon is charged with Assault 1st Degree (Domestic Violence) and Criminal Abuse 1st Degree. Both are being held at the Fayette County Detention Center.
"I'd seen the whole street lined up with ambulance, fire department, the coroner," explains Constantina Day who lives in the same apartment complex where the body was found.
"When detectives started showing up I knew something was really wrong, so I happen to walk across the street because I knew some of the ladies and she had told me that she thought it was someone who was deceased," describes Dedra Mitchell who lives across the street from the apartment complex from where the body was found. "I'm saddened by the situation because he was an innocent baby that could have been prevented from people choosing things that they shouldn't have been chosen to do."
Mitchell and Day both tell LEX 18 a 6-year-old girl and a younger boy also live in the home. They describe Joshua as the sweetest little boy.
"You know he was a sweet little boy from what I've seen, but we never really got to see him these last few months," says Mitchell. "It disturbed me. I mean it disturbed the whole neighborhood. It still bothers me. You know, it really brings me to tears because that baby did not know no better. I mean he was just beginning to live life."
"What's really disheartening is I called less than 48 hours before the incident even occurred and now they've come to find the baby boy unresponsive and gone," explains Day who says she's been reporting to authorities for several months. "I'd seen the verbal, the physical abuse. I'd seen it and reported it. They say if you see something, say something. You hear something say something and then when you do nobody does anything. So what should you do?"
Day and Mitchell describe witnessing first-hand the suspected abuse happening in the home.
"You could hear their violence sometimes outside, they got in fights you know you could hear them over the fence getting into fights," recalls Mitchell.
"Hold your babies tight and love them. If you see anything happening report it," said Day. "Even if nothing gets done keep reporting it because that baby, those kids those innocent children deserve to have a voice which is otherwise silenced."
Both women agree they want the system to do better and fight for the innocent, and for justice to be served for Joshua.
