NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
Eric Johnson has been arrested and identified as the primary suspect in the killing of 16-month-old Shawn McCloskey, who died in 2012<\/p>\n
Johnson’s arrest comes after new evidence was uncovered during a Texas cold case workshop<\/p>\n
At the time, the toddler’s death was ruled a homicide<\/p>\n
A Texas man has been arrested in connection with the 2012 death of a 16-month-old boy after a cold case breakthrough.<\/p>\n
Eric Johnson has been arrested in connection with the 2012 homicide of 16-month-old Shawn McCloskey, the Office of the Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit announced in a news release<\/a> on Monday, Aug. 3.<\/p>\n Johnson \u2014 who’s 39 years old, according to ABC13 Houston<\/a>, Fox 26 Houston<\/a>, and KHOU<\/a> \u2014was taken into custody by the La Porte Police Department weeks after new investigative developments were uncovered by the OAG’s Cold Case Unit during Texas Solves: Collaboration Workshop held in May 2026, the news release states.<\/p>\n “My Cold Case Unit has secured the evidence needed to arrest Eric Johnson for the murder of 16-month-old baby Shawn McCloskey,” said Attorney General Paxton in a statement. “My office worked closely with the La Porte PD to bring justice to the victim of such a heartbreaking and heinous violent crime. We will continue to do everything we can to solve cold cases across the state.”<\/p>\n It is unclear whether Johnson has been formally charged at this time. PEOPLE has reached out to the La Porte Police Department and the Office of the Attorney General for comment.<\/p>\n Johnson’s arrest comes 14 years after his then-girlfriend, Shawn’s mother, discovered the toddler unresponsive on July 19, 2012.<\/p>\n Shawn had been in Johnson’s care the night before, according to the press release. After the incident, Shawn was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n An autopsy showed that he had “suffered multiple blunt force injuries equivalent to those seen in a high-speed automobile collision,” and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the press release.<\/p>\n The OAG’s Cold Case Unit said that La Porte detectives identified Johnson as the primary suspect early in the investigation but “evidence available at the time was insufficient to support filing charges.”<\/p>\n After the case remained unsolved for 14 years, the La Porte Police Department submitted it for review at the OAG’s Texas Solves: Collaboration Workshop, which brings forensic experts and investigators together to reevaluate unsolved cases.<\/p>\n