Report Indicates Dead 7-Year-Old Aja Johnson Was Abused

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A death-review report indicates a 7-year-old girl who authorities think was abducted and killed by her stepfather suffered abuse at his hands for the final three years of her life.

The report reviewing the death of Aja Johnson was issued by the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth.

Read the Review of the Death of Aja D. Johnson

The report indicates that state Department of Human Services records show the agency received seven abuse and neglect reports in the two years before Aja's abduction in January, but that DHS tried for months to keep Aja and her stepsister in the home of Aja's stepfather, Lester Hobbs.

A DHS spokeswoman says the agency tries to help parents keep families together when workers think the children will be safe, but making that determination can be difficult.

The bodies of Hobbs and Aja were found March 29 in a rural part of Norman.

More:

- Family, Friends Gather to Remember Aja Johnson
- M.E.'s Office Releases Preliminary Autopsy Reports for Aja Johnson, Lester Hobbs
- OSBI Defends Investigation in Aja Johnson Case
- Investigation Continues After Bodies of Aja Johnson, Lester Hobbs Possibly Found in Norman
- OSBI Explains Delay in Notifying Aja Johnson's Family
- Hobbs' Family Says They Had Feeling Hobbs Would Go to Norman
- Car, Bodies Found in Connection With Case of Missing Girl Aja Johnson
- OSBI Pleads For Safe Return of Aja Johnson
- Search Continues for Missing Oklahoma Girl as Authorities Investigate Her Mother's Death
- OSBI Working Against Time to Find Missing 7-Year-Old
- Alleged Murderer's Family Pleads For Release of Aja Johnson
- Search Continues for Missing Oklahoma Girl
- Surveillance Photos Show Kidnapping, Murder Suspect on Day of Murder