Cody Alan Johnson Arrested After Rape Kills Baby In Tulsa, Oklahoma — Sawyer Paige Jefferson’s Death Brings Out Stories Of Sexual Abuse

Oklahoma police had Cody Alan Johnson arrested for allegedly raping a baby to death in Tulsa. Doctors tried saving the 16-month-old girl, but Sawyer Paige Jefferson eventually died from the injuries sustained during the violent rape. Many on social media believe that Oklahoma’s death penalty needs to be applied to the case.

Johnson has been identified as the mother’s boyfriend, but so far reports have not yet indicated whether the unnamed woman will be facing any charges associated with the case. The media reports on the case has also caused other victims of sexual abuse to come forward, including Mecca Grandle, experienced an attack when she was only 11 years old.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Sawyer Paige Jefferson’s mother took the little girl to the emergency room on Saturday. The infant was suffering from cardiac arrest and police reports said she had “numerous visible facial contusions and bruising and bleeding coming from both the child’s vagina and rectum.” The little girl survived for two days on life support but eventually passed away due to the extent of the injuries.

Reports say the 30-year-old Cody Alan Johnson claimed the toddler “slipped on her pajamas and fell on a toy,” but police did not believe his story and arrested him on Sunday since the damage done to the baby’s genitals was consistent with “extensive forcible penetration.” Johnson was initially booked into a Tulsa, Oklahoma, jail Sunday on complaints of child physical abuse and child sexual abuse, but by the evening a first-degree murder charge was added.

Tulsa Police Department Corporal Greg Smith said this was one of the worst child abuse cases he has ever seen.

“We’ve seen some pretty badly beaten and abused kids over the years, but this one’s pretty bad. I mean, it is pretty bad,” Smith said, according to News On 6.

Smith said Johnson was alone with the child at home, and Tulsa police have no reason to suspect that the child’s mother knew about the sexual abuse. Police investigators say Johnson called the mother to come home from work because her daughter was bleeding and was unresponsive. The child’s mother immediately rushed her daughter to the emergency room at Saint Francis.

“Often times, we find these type of situations where we find some volatility in these relationships, maybe domestic issues, but I don’t know of any in this case,” Smith said.

The baby girl’s mother has not been arrested as of this publishing, and the police are currently running DNA tests on Johnson in order to verify the rape of the baby. But the story has caused those with similar history to speak out about past abuse.

Mecca Grandle is a member of a Tulsa support group for women called Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse. The group meets twice a month to help women deal with painful childhood memories. According to KTUL, Grandle kept her story private, but after hearing about how the one-year-old baby girl died from a violent rape, Grandle says that she was also attacked by a family member when she was young.

“I kept my secret for 26 years. And it was when this person was arrested for attempting to do it again my world kind of started to shatter,” said Grandle.

Christine Marsh, director of the Tulsa Child Abuse and Trauma Services, said sexual predators are often not caught because family members are not willing to talk about the abuse. She said it is important for the truth to be spoken so that future abuse can be prevented.

“Absolutely tell somebody. And if the person that you’re telling is not the right person tell somebody else because you know these things that happen they don’t just affect you at that age, they affect you for many, many years,” said Marsh.

Cody Alan Johnson is currently being held at the Tula Count Jail on a $200,000 bond. His prior convictions include theft and driving under the influence. Based upon the first degree murder charge, many on social media are calling for Oklahoma’s death penalty.

?WARNING, GRAPHIC:? 16m/o SAWYER JEFFERSON, Dies From Her Injuries After Being Brutally Raped By Cody Alan Johnson. https://t.co/W5lDwbOxUL

— #StopChildAbuse (@ChildAbuseNewz) December 7, 2015

[UPDATE] The initial version of this report incorrectly referred to Mecca Grandle as a family member of Sawyer Paige Jefferson.

[Image via Tulsa Police Department]