Johnston County man charged with torturing 4-year-old girl

A Johnston County man has been charged with torturing a 4-year-old girl who had been left in his care, leaving her with severe head trauma, evidence of sexual abuse and bites, cuts and abrasions that covered her body, Sheriff Steve Bizzell said Friday night.

The girl was so badly hurt that she had to be airlifted to UNC Hospitals, where she was in critical condition.

“This is one of the worst cases of child abuse that I have ever seen and that we have every investigated,” Bizzell said.

The extent of the girl’s injuries left him and other seasoned investigators on his staff shaken, he said.

Jonathan Douglas Richardson, 21, was charged with felony child abuse with severe bodily injury, Bizzell said.

Richardson is being held tonight in Johnston County’s jail on $1 million bond.

Richardson lives in a barn behind the home of his grandparents. A few weeks ago, his girlfriend had moved into the barn with him, bringing her 4-year-old daughter, Bizzell said.

The girl’s mother left for military training in New Mexico on July 6, leaving her daugther with Richardson.

The abuse was discovered when Richardson brought the girl to Johnston Memorial Hospital Friday and told medical staff there that she had fallen out of a bed.