4-Year-Old Removed From Home During Johnston Drug Investigation Dies

FOUR OAKS, N.C. — A four-year-old boy who was removed from a Johnston County home during a narcotics investigation earlier this week died Saturday while staying with a grandparent, prompting an active death investigation by the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office.

The child died July 4 at a residence on Juniper Church Road near Four Oaks, three days after he and two other children were removed from a Thompson Road home by social workers following the execution of a narcotics search warrant.

Johnston County deputies were dispatched Saturday to assist Johnston County EMS with an unresponsive child. Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division were later called to the residence to conduct a death investigation.

Investigators said preliminary information indicates the four-year-old had been ill for several days before EMS was summoned to the home. Authorities said no foul play is suspected at this time.

The two other children who had been removed from the Thompson Road residence on July 1 were also at the Juniper Church Road home Saturday. Johnston County EMS transported both juveniles to a hospital as a precaution for medical evaluation.

The Sheriff’s Office confirmed all three children at the Juniper Church Road residence were the same juveniles removed during the July 1 search warrant investigation.

During that search, investigators reported finding suspected LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a stolen handgun hidden beneath a bed. Deputies also described the home as having unsanitary living conditions.

The children’s mother, Amber Nicole Gibson, 39, was arrested during the July 1 search and charged with possession of a stolen firearm, felony maintaining a vehicle or dwelling for a controlled substance, two counts of felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of methamphetamine, simple possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to court records, Gibson posted a $17,500 secured bond on July 2 and was released from the Johnston County Detention Center.

Sheriff’s officials said the children’s mother was not present at the Juniper Church Road residence on Saturday. The sheriff’s office confirmed the children had been staying with a grandparent but referred questions regarding legal custody or placement to the Johnston County Department of Social Services.

“The cause and manner of the child’s death remain under investigation,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Saturday. “The Johnston County Sheriff’s Office is working closely with the appropriate agencies, and no further information regarding the investigation is being released at this time.”

JoCoReport has submitted questions to the Johnston County Department of Social Services seeking to determine whether the agency retained legal custody of the children after their removal from the Thompson Road home, whether the children were placed with the grandparent as part of a DSS-arranged placement, what oversight or welfare checks, if any, were conducted after the placement, and whether DSS has opened an internal review following the child’s death. We have also asked whether the two surviving children remain in DSS custody and whether the agency has notified the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.