Man guilty of murder in 'Precious Doe' case

updated 5:30 p.m. ET Oct. 8, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man has been convicted in Missouri of killing a 3-year-old girl who became known as "Precious Doe" after her decapitated body was found in 2001.

A jury convicted 29-year-old Harrell Johnson of first-degree murder Wednesday in the death of Erica Green.

Johnson kicked her, then left her to die in a Kansas City home where he and the girl's mother were staying. He cut her head off and dumped the body in the woods.

A police officer later found the body in April 2001. Her identity was unknown until 2005, when a community activist received a tip from the suspect's grandfather in Oklahoma.

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