Eric Johnson, 39, who was once featured on the Hood News, has been arrested in connection with the 2012 death of 16 month-old Shawn McCloskey.
Shawn’s mother found him unresponsive back on July 2012 after Johnson, her boyfriend at the time, had cared for the toddler overnight. The child was rushed to the hospital but later died.
An autopsy revealed Shawn suffered multiple blunt-force injuries comparable to injuries seen in a high-speed car crash and death was ruled a homicide.
La Porte Detectives identified Johnson as the primary suspect early in the investigation, but authorities did not have enough evidence to file charges at the time.
The case remained unsolved for 14 years until La Porte PD and the Texas Attorney General’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit reexamined the evidence during a cold-case workshop in May 2026. Investigators developed new strategies and established probable cause for Johnson’s arrest.
