Largo man arrested for murder of 8-week-old daughter

A 20-year-old Largo man charged with the first degree murder of his 8-week-old daughter will remain in jail without bond following his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon. 

Largo police arrested Stephen Joseph Johnson Tuesday night after further questioning about Leah Johnson's death last Friday. 

"The initial report (Friday) was the father had taken a nap and woke up to find his daughter on the couch face down," Lt. Paul Amodeo told FOX 13 News. 

The document attached to Johnson's arrest tells a different story: "...victim's biological father, suffocated his 8-week-old daughter by forcing her head and face into his chest and shoulder area until she stopped breathing."  The arrest affidavit goes on to say Johnson then placed the infant on the corner of a couch and napped for about half-an-hour before calling the baby's mother, who was at work at the time, and emergency services.  "Defendant admitted to suffocating his daughter and fabricating his initial story" the document concludes.

Johnson shared a unit in a Largo quad-plex with Jennifer Carpenter, also 20 years old. 

In a telephone interview, a man named Mark identified himself as Carpenter's father and said the family was attending the baby's funeral viewing Wednesday afternoon.  He described a young couple in love, working part-time jobs to make ends meet, and planned on getting married someday. 

Johnson and Carpenter both have Facebook pages filled with pictures of them as a couple and as the new parents of baby Leah. 

Lt. Amodeo declined to provide specific information at this time, but responded to a direct question by saying: "Some of the things that led to this are some of the parental frustrations that people can sometimes get."