8-Year-Old Actually Stabbed by Mother, Police Say

An 8-year-old boy who remains hospitalized after being stabbed Saturday night was actually stabbed by his mother, who later killed herself, according to a release from Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray and Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio.

According to officials, police responded to a stabbing on Morris Avenue around 10:13 p.m. Saturday, and an 8-year-old boy was found stabbed outside the property. Officials said the boy was rushed to University Hospital where he is still hospitalized.

The release said the body of an adult woman was found on the 100 block of Newton Street Sunday at about 10:17 a.m., near the Morris Avenue incident. The woman had apparent stab wounds, and was pronounced dead on the scene at about 10:33 a.m.

The woman was identified as Othelia Johnson, 26, of Newark. Johnson was the biological mother of the 8-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, officials said.

An autopsy done on the woman found that she died from stab wounds to the heart and left lung.

Chief Assistant Thomas Fennelly, of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Unit, said the manner of death is pending because continued investigation has revealed her wounds were self-inflicted.