Trigger Warning: Child Abuse
Wife Sentenced to 10 Years, Husband Sentenced to 19 After Couple Pleaded Guilty to Murder, Child Abuse Following Death of 9-Day-Old in 2024
NORFOLK, Va. — Z'Ibreyea Shantel Parker, 22, was sentenced on Friday to serve 10 years in prison for felony child abuse, and her husband, Hilary Darnell Johnson II, 24, was sentenced last week to serve 19 years for murder after the couple entered guilty pleas earlier this year to those charges following the death of their 9-day-old baby.
Around 12:30 p.m. on May 4, 2024, the couple arrived at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters with the body of their daughter Iijayah. They told the staff that Iijayah, who was cold to the touch, had fallen from her stroller and hit her head two days prior while Mr. Johnson was jogging. The parents, who were living in a tent at the time, said that they had not sought medical treatment for Iijayah sooner because they had tried to treat her on their own with witch hazel, peroxide and gauze and that they only got on the Light Rail to bring her to the hospital when they noticed that after appetite had decreased and that she appeared to no longer be breathing. The parents struggled to provide a precise birthdate for their daughter and laughed while checking in.
Hospital staff observed signs of abuse on Iijayah’s body — including burns on the bottoms of her feet, two cuts to the top of her head and face, and bruises on her back — and called Norfolk Police. A subsequent autopsy confirmed that her cause of death was blunt trauma to her head and torso, with deep partial-thickness burns (consistent with burns caused by hot liquid) to her feet as a contributing factor. None of her injuries could be explained by a fall from a stroller. Iijayah had also suffered several broken ribs and multiple other internal and external injuries. Based on the police’s investigation, both parents were charged with felony child abuse and second-degree murder. Neither the autopsy nor the investigation nor the statements of Mr. Johnson and Ms. Parker could establish which parent had inflicted Iijayah’s injuries, though the evidence pointed more strongly to Mr. Johnson. Both parents denied hurting Iijayah.
On Aug. 4, 2025, Mr. Johnson entered an agreement to plead guilty to second-degree murder and face an active sentence of up to 19 years in prison, and the Commonwealth agreed to the dismissal of the child abuse charge. Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise accepted Mr. Johnson’s plea agreement and found him guilty.
On Oct. 24, after hearing the arguments from the Commonwealth and the defense, Judge LeCruise sentenced Mr. Johnson to the maximum 19 years allowable under the plea agreement and suspended an additional 21 years on the conditions that Mr. Johnson completes five years of supervised probation as well as uniform good behavior after his release and that he has no unsupervised contact with minors during that time.
On Aug. 19, Ms. Parker entered an agreement to plead guilty to child abuse, and the Commonwealth agreed to the dismissal of her murder charge due to insufficient evidence in her case to support that charge. There was no agreement to the sentence Ms. Parker would receive, and her state sentencing guidelines recommended an active sentence range between probation to six months in jail due to her lack of a criminal history. Judge Jennifer L. Fuschetti accepted Ms. Parker’s plea agreement, found her guilty, and set her sentencing hearing on Oct. 31.
At Ms. Parker’s sentencing hearing on Friday, the Commonwealth argued for a deviation above the guidelines and for Ms. Parker to serve three years in prison, while her defense counsel argued for a sentence amounting to time-served due to Ms. Parker’s guidelines recommendation and due to her having spent the past 16 months in custody. After hearing the arguments, Judge Fuschetti sentenced Ms. Parker to serve 10 years — the maximum sentence under Virginia law for felony child abuse — and three years of post-release supervision. In handing down the sentence, Judge Fuschetti noted how malnourished the baby had been, the continued lack of an explanation for her injuries, and that Ms. Parker’s sentencing guidelines did not account for an aggravated case such as hers.
“There is no victim more vulnerable than a newborn baby. Iijayah came into the world in need of love and protection from her mother and father. What she got instead was suffering and death,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “This was a difficult case on the facts, and there were real risks in going to trial, since, while there was no doubt about the nature of Iijayah’s injuries, each parent could have blamed the other for inflicting them. In both cases, we secured a conviction and left the sentencing to the wisdom of the judge. We will continue to work the difficult cases and to honor the memory of innocent victims like Iijayah who cannot speak for themselves.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle L. Newkirk and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Abigail L. Ottinger prosecuted Mr. Johnson and Ms. Parker’s cases, and Norfolk Police Detective Tyler K. Frear led the investigation.
If you and/or someone you love are a victim of a crime — including but not limited to child abuse — resources are available at the Norfolk Family Justice Center. For more information, please visit norfolkfjc.org, call 757-330-0376, or stop by the NFJC located at 835 Glenrock Road, Suite 100, between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. If you are in crisis, call the 24/7 hotline by dialing 757-251-0144. In an emergency, please call 911.
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