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Family Of Child Found In Ditch Looks For Answers

FLORIDA CITY (CBSMiami) -- The family of a toddler who was pronounced dead shortly after being pulled from a hole in the ground in Florida City, is now looking for answers.

Her family held a vigil Saturday at the location where Mariah Johnson was found barely alive. She would have turned two last Saturday.

"I know she's gone to heaven. I know she's in a better place. She don't have to suffer anymore. I just want closure that's all," said Mariah's Grandfather Eddie Dixon.

Her grandfather and the rest of the family said they just want closure but are no closer to getting it than they were a month ago when Johnson was reported missing then found in a hole in the ground near Palm drive and 9th avenue in Florida City.

The coroner ruled Johnson's death accidental, but it's an open case with Miami-Dade Police. The family is not satisfied with how the investigation is going.

Stanley Dye, a relative, said "There are many people in this complex that want to talk that want to say things that want to make statements that have not made those statements."

Johnson's family said she was with her mother's boyfriend when she somehow disappeared October 19th. Once she was reported missing, family, friends and police searched the neighborhood. A couple of hours later, they found the one year old unresponsive in a ditch.

"When you take the circumstantial evidence as an adult with kids and they turn up missing you gotta look at the individual theres no one else to look at," said Dye.

It's still not clear how Johnson ended up in a hole and the family seems to think the mother's boyfriend is key to unraveling this mystery.

No arrests have been made in the case.

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