By Tara Kaprowy and Dean Manning
Amanda Johnson called her son’s father from jail Tuesday morning and swore she did not kill their 23-month-old boy.
“She said she didn’t do it,” Michael Troy said. “She swears to me that she didn’t.”
Johnson called Troy to ask about her son’s funeral arrangements.
“She just seems like she’s really messed up right now,” Troy said. “She doesn’t know what to do.”
Johnson pleaded not guilty Monday to the murder of her son, Stephen Troy, a day after an autopsy revealed the boy died from blunt-force trauma to the abdomen.
“Detectives worked all weekend on the case and it culminated into the charges being taken against Ms. Johnson,” Kentucky State Police spokesman Don Trosper said. “It’s always a positive outcome to be able to clear an investigation up.”
That investigation was led by KSP Detective Mark Allen, who was assisted by other members of the London-Laurel County Major Crimes Task Force.
Laurel County Coroner Doug Bowling confirmed the trauma to the abdomen caused “the arteries that supply blood to the small intestine” to rupture and “he bled out.”
Johnson also is charged with first-degree criminal abuse. According to the arrest report, the abuse against Stephen has been ongoing “for a period of time.” In addition to trauma to his stomach, Stephen had “several bruises and two fractures to (the) left leg,” the report reads.
Johnson’s boyfriend, Will Callahan, was with Stephen when he died. He was in shock and tears Monday.
“If I’d have thought anything, I’d have stopped it,” he said. “She watched over them. I thought it was God’s gift she was such a good mother ... She would always run after the kids, make sure they didn’t get hurt.”
Michael Troy agreed.
“She was a good mom,” he said.
Family members said Stephen was a good little boy.
“He was the kind of kid that, if you were having a bad day, he just had that presence if he was around you he would make you feel better,” Michael Troy said. “He loved basketball and football. He would always play basketball.”
“He was the sweetest little boy there was,” Callahan’s father, Kelly, said. “He never gave us no problems. He was the sweetest, best little kid there was.”
Will Callahan, who lives in the East Bernstadt area, said he picked up Stephen about 8:30 p.m. Thursday from his father’s house.
Troy said he was somewhat hesitant to let his son go.
“Stephen didn’t want to go with Will,” he said. “I just had a feeling I shouldn’t have let him go.”
Earlier in the day, Troy said he’d noticed a bruise on Stephen’s back.
“It was fairly big on his back,” he said, adding it was about the size of a fist.
Nevertheless, Stephen returned to Callahan’s home. Johnson went to work about 7:20 the next morning, after which Stephen started throwing up and having diarrhea.
“I just thought he had a flu or a stomach virus,” Callahan said, adding he washed the boy and sat with him on the couch to watch TV.
“He threw up again and then had trouble breathing,” he said.
When the boy starting feeling limp and taking shallow breaths, Callahan called 911 and tried giving him CPR.
“It couldn’t have been too long before they got here, but it seemed like forever to me,” Callahan said.
Stephen did not live to make it to Saint Joseph-London; he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Johnson and Callahan had been living together for six months in Callahan’s trailer. Stephen would have turned 2 on Nov. 8.
“They’d already planned a little birthday party,” Kelly Callahan said, adding Will’s 3-year-old daughter, Daisy, had grown very close to Stephen and treated him like her little brother. The children regularly played house and she sat beside him on the couch before he died.
The adults have tried to explained Stephen’s death to Daisy.
“She knows Stephen isn’t coming back,” Kelly Callahan said.
Since news of Stephen’s death has surfaced, Will Callahan said he has received threats on his life.
“People were mad enough to say they would kill me,” he said. “I understand that. I understand people’s pain ... I hurt for myself. I hurt for everybody.”
The funeral for Stephen Troy is set for 2 p.m. Thursday at Bowling Funeral Home.
Johnson remains in the Laurel County Detention Center on a $250,000 cash bond. Her pretrial hearing is set for Nov. 3.
Allen is being assisted by KSP Detective Mike Bowling, Trooper Fred Pennington, Lt. Curtis O’Bannon, Trooper Barry Blair, Laurel County Sheriff’s Detective Tommy Johnston and the Laurel County Coroner’s Office.
