Mother, roommate imprisoned for Colorado infant's meth-tainted bottle feeding

An 11-week-old baby died in 2024 in Lakewood because a bottle of baby formula fed to him was contaminated with lethal amounts of methamphetamine. 

Ezra Johnson sadly consumed a deadly formula. Paramedics were unable to revive him. 

This week, his caretakers were sentenced to prison for his death. 

Lisa Johnson, 32, Ezra's mother, and Alexander Avila, 34, the man whom Lisa Johnson shared a room with, admitted that baby bottles were among the objects they used to store methamphetamine and other illicit drugs in their room, according to a press release from the First Judicial District Attorney's Office announcing the sentences. 

Ezra passed away July 26, 2024. An autopsy measured 53,000 nanograms of meth per milliliter of blood in his body. Methamphetamine toxicity, in official terms.

A 2023 study of overdoses found 900 to 18,000 ng/mL was enough to kill adults. 

Neither Lisa Johnson nor Avila took responsibility for feeding Ezra the lethal bottle, according to Jefferson County prosecutors. 

Avila pleaded guilty late last year to felony child abuse and accessory to crime charges. He was sentenced Thursday to 18 years and 12 years on those counts, respectively. He will serve both terms simultaneously in the Colorado Department of Corrections. 

Jefferson County District Court Judge Tamara Russell criticized Avila's actions, pointing out that he was on felony probation at the time of Ezra's death and had three prior felony drug convictions.

"At some point, it should have been enough for you to seek help," Russell stated, according to the DA's press release. "Everyone could see how this was coming to a head, how this was going to happen. I don't think that you intentionally fed meth to the child, but had you not been in active addiction, you would have seen what everyone else sees; it was bound to happen."

Avila spoke at the hearing, per the DA's Office. He told the court he was sorry for Ezra's death and thinks about it every day.

Johnson pleaded guilty late last year to one count of felony child abuse. At her sentencing Friday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Tyra Forbes argued for the maximum sentence available under the plea. 

"Ezra experienced child abuse his entire life," Forbes stated, according the DA's Office press release, "in the womb, in the environment where he was raised, through neglect about his personal surroundings and safety, in the drugs that ultimately killed him… and from the mother that wouldn't let anyone in to help."

Forbes described how Johnson refused assistance.  

"DHS (the Colorado Department of Human Services) was involved, a homeless navigator was involved, and she had a woman who already adopted her third child that would have taken Ezra, had she just asked," stated Forbes, per the press release. "While unlike Mr. Avila, Ms. Johnson doesn't have three prior felonies, but she did have three children previously removed from her care. And this is the fourth." 

Lisa Johnson apologized to Ezra before she was sentenced and acknowledged she will always wonder what would have happened if she had sought help, according to the press release.

Judge Russell admonished Johnson: "Being a mom is one of the most important jobs, and not every child deserves the mom they get. It was up to you to make that decision. Your big mistake wasn't leaving him with Avila; it was living there, doing drugs, hanging out with people using drugs, and not realizing this was going to come to a head." 

Lisa Johnson received a 25-year sentence.