INSPIRED STORY

Precious Doe

In the summer of 2005, a tip call leads police to discover the truth about the murder of a little girl known only as "Precious Doe". Police attribute the solving of this case to media attention, without it they say the identity of "Precious Doe" would have remained a mystery and her killers would have remained at large.
On April 28, 2001, police search a secluded, wooded area in Kansas City, MO and make a gruesome discovery. They find the headless, battered corpse of a young African American girl who locals christen "Precious Doe." Three days later a volunteer finds Precious Doe's head wrapped in a plastic bag and dumped in the woods. Investigators are stunned that a child so young could be dead but not reported missing. A massive investigation unfolds as detectives circulate sketches of the girl, and enlist the help of forensic anthropologists to recreate her face, in the hopes that someone will recognize her.
After four years of media attention, including numerous airings of Cold Case Files, a tip helped police identify Precious Doe as Erica Michelle Maria Green. In May of 2005, the girl's mother, Michelle Johnson, and stepfather, Harrel Johnson, were charged with her murder