NORFOLK, VA — Two Norfolk parents have been sentenced to prison following the horrific death of their 9-day-old daughter, Iijayah, earlier this year—a case that left judges grappling with the unimaginable and prosecutors pushing for accountability despite difficult legal terrain.
On Friday, 22-year-old Z’Ibreyea Shantel Parker was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the maximum under Virginia law for felony child abuse. Just one week earlier,
her husband, Hilary Darnell Johnson II, 24, was sentenced to 19 years for second-degree murder after pleading guilty.
The tragedy began on May 4, 2024, when the couple brought Iijayah’s lifeless body to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. They told medical staff that the baby had fallen from a stroller two days earlier while Johnson was jogging and hit her head. Instead of seeking medical help, they said they tried to treat her at home with peroxide, witch hazel, and gauze—only heading to the hospital when she stopped breathing.
But the staff immediately noticed something was wrong. Iijayah’s tiny body showed burns on her feet, cuts and bruises on her head and back, and signs of severe malnutrition. She also had broken ribs and internal injuries. An autopsy confirmed the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and torso, with burns from a hot liquid contributing to her death.
Police arrested both parents. But investigators couldn’t determine who had inflicted the fatal injuries, and both Parker and Johnson denied harming their daughter. Still, the severity of the abuse led to second-degree murder and felony child abuse charges for both.
Ultimately, Johnson took a plea deal in August 2025, admitting guilt to second-degree murder in exchange for dismissal of the child abuse charge. The court handed him the full 19-year sentence under the agreement. An additional 21 years were suspended under the condition of five years of probation and no unsupervised contact with minors after release.
Parker’s case played out differently. While she also reached a plea agreement, hers dropped the murder charge—prosecutors said they didn’t have enough evidence to prove she had inflicted the injuries herself. The state sentencing guidelines recommended no more than six months in jail for Parker, who had no prior criminal record.
But Judge Jennifer L. Fuschetti went far beyond those guidelines. After hearing arguments from both sides on October 31, she gave Parker 10 years, citing the extreme neglect and suffering Iijayah endured.
“There is no victim more vulnerable than a newborn baby,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Iijayah came into the world in need of love and protection from her mother and father. What she got instead was suffering and death.”
Fatehi acknowledged the challenges in prosecuting the case—particularly the uncertainty about which parent had delivered the fatal injuries—but said the sentences reflect a measure of justice for a child who never had a chance.
“We will continue to work the difficult cases,” he said, “and to honor the memory of innocent victims like Iijayah who cannot speak for themselves.”