Heroin withdrawal made woman hallucinate SpongeBob telling her to stab her 3-year-old daughter to death, police say

Michigan investigators said a woman told them she was experiencing heroin withdrawal when she hallucinated SpongeBob SquarePants telling her to stab her infant daughter to death.

The shocking admission came during the preliminary hearing of the trial of 22-year-old Justine Johnson for murder of her daughter Sutton Mosser.

Johnson's brother called police on September 16 when he said that he found a human foot sticking out of a garbage bag at his sister's home.

Police identified the body as that of Sutton, who had been stabbed to death. She was three years old at the time of her death, but she had died only two days after her third birthday.

More than four hours later, they found her mother walking on railroad tracks. A family member told the police that she had been on drugs.

During the preliminary hearing, it was revealed what Johnson had allegedly said to a Child Protective Services investigator.

"She said that the television, specifically SpongeBob told her she had to do this to the child or she would be killed," said Iosco County prosecutor Jim Bacarella told WJRT-TV.

According to police, she said that she was hallucinating because of heroin withdrawals and from not sleeping for weeks.

She also reportedly told the investigator that she had passed out in a graveyard before returning to her home and trying to kill herself.

“She told me that she didn’t remember the specifics of what happened at the time of what happened to Sutton," testified Ryan Eberline.

Bacarella said she had been found competent to stand trial, but there was a second evaluation she would have to undergo.

"Evaluation regarding criminal responsibility which is basically whether or not she knew the difference between right and wrong when this event occurred," he explained. "That would be used if she chose to raise the affirmative defense of not guilty by reason of insanity."

Johnson was charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse.