On November 2, 1994, at 5:30 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call at 1413 William Street in Cape Girardeau. A three-year-old child, Bobby J. Miller, was unconscious and unresponsive. The child was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

An autopsy would reveal that the little boy had died from peritonitis from a ruptured bowel, caused by a blow to the abdomen, received at least two days previously. The child had also suffered blunt abdominal trauma, two fractured ribs, a serious burn to the right hand, a serious burn to the left foot, several cigarette burns in various stages of healing, and a looped-cord whipping injury on the right flank.

Luville Michelle Beal, 24, the mother of the child, told investigators that the child had been sick for a couple of days. She had called 911 when the child had called out for his mother before lapsing into unconsciousness. She claimed that the burn injury on the hand had been accidently caused by a hot pan.

The mother’s boyfriend, Kenneth Dewayne Johnson, 26, lived with her and the child. He denied causing the injuries to the boy. The mother said she loved Johnson and planned to marry him.

The Major Case Squad was activated.

An adult witness was located who was a friend of the family of the victim. She reported that the three-year-old had told her that Kenneth Dewayne Johnson had burned the child on the hand with his cigarette lighter. The witness said she’d encouraged Luville Michelle Beal to take the child to the hospital for treatment for the second degree burn, which was "green" and festering, but Luville Michelle Beal declined to seek medical treatment for the child.

Kenneth D. Johnson

Ultimately, Kenneth Dewayne Johnson admitted that he had kicked Bobby J. Miller in the abdomen so hard it had caused him to go airborne and land on his stomach on the arm of a couch. He said it had occurred while they were watching professional wrestling on television and had been accidental. In later statement, he changed his version of what happened from kicking the child to tossing him and having him land on the arm of the couch. He admitted that the child had been in pain for a couple of days, but he had not told anyone what he had done. He denied ever spanking or burning the child.

A nine-year-old child, who was a friend of the family, reported, however, that he had seen Kenneth Dewayne Johnson get mad and spank and slap Bobby J. Miller.

On January 9, 1995, Kenneth Dewayne Johnson pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter for recklessly causing the death of Bobby J. Miller. Circuit Judge John W. Grimm subsequently sentenced him to 7 years in prison.

Luville Michelle Beal pled guilty to the class D felony of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree for knowingly acting in a manner that created a substantial risk to the health of the child "by failing to seek appropriate medical attention for an open and festering wound on Bobby J. Miller’s hand." She was sentenced to three years in prison.