In a videotaped deposition, Hornig confirmed Young’s findings and added that the parents would have surely noticed Erica’s symptoms, especially considering how long she survived after the incident. Harrell Johnson has estimated she died after 10 to 14 hours while Michelle Johnson has said her daughter lingered for two or three days.

Under cross-examination, Hornig agreed that he couldn’t tell what symptoms Erica exhibited other than unconsciousness and acknowledged that some symptoms, such as irregular heartbeat or slowed breathing, would be difficult to notice without medical training.

Dollar told jurors that police had hoped that media reports about the body being found would coax the girl’s parents to come forward or file a missing person’s report.

But “no call comes and no report comes,” Dollar said. “Instead, Kansas City’s long nightmare has begun.”

For four years, the case haunted residents who longed to know the identity of the girl they had nicknamed “Precious Doe” and who could have killed her in such horrific fashion.

Homicide Sgt. David Bernard testified that he initially thought the girl would be identified quickly because of her age. When that didn’t happen, he said the department used numerous drawings and clay busts of the girl’s likeness to drum up leads, even putting them on an episode of “America’s Most Wanted.”

Erica was finally identified in 2005 after Harrell Johnson’s grandfather in Muskogee tipped a Kansas City community activist who had kept the case in the spotlight. Johnson and the girl’s mother, who had married a year after Erica’s death, were arrested in Oklahoma.

Michelle Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year and agreed to testify against her husband.

In his opening statement, Dollar said Michelle Green admitted her role after her arrest when police showed her a photograph of her daughter while she was alive. Dollar showed jurors the photo of Erica in a white dress. On the back, Michelle Johnson had written, “Mama is so sorry. You are always in my heart and soul. Love always, Little E.”

Harrell Johnson also wrote on the back of the photo, saying, “I’m so sorry that this happened and I hope you will forgive me for what I’ve done.”