As conversations across social media continue to focus on the controversy surrounding the Big Stone football coach, one mother is begging her community not to overlook a far more personal and terrifying reality—the man who nearly killed her infant daughter is about to be released from prison.
While the football scandal has dominated news feeds and headlines, Kristen Wilder is reliving the trauma of the most horrifying moment in her life.
She says the attention on the coach exists only because of the team’s record, and she wants people to understand that real danger is approaching her family once again.
Kristen speaks openly about the anxiety that has taken over her in recent days.
On Monday, the man who left her daughter with permanent, life-altering injuries is scheduled to walk free.
“My nerves are going to be haywire,” she writes.
“Someone who wasn’t posted all over Facebook and isn’t from Big Stone is getting out of jail Monday—the same man who tried to kill my daughter when she was only a year and four months old.”
Facebook
What haunts her even more is how few people even know what happened.
While the football story spreads rapidly online, she says her daughter’s near-fatal assault barely made it beyond the courtroom.
“But wait—you didn’t hear about all that, now did you?” she asks. “Why not?”
Also Read: Maine, Westbrook High Student Was Sold to Wealthy Football Donor’s Son as a Punching Bag
Kristen remembers every detail of the day she received the note in court telling her to get to the hospital immediately.
Her daughter, just 16 months old, was being airlifted for emergency treatment.
Doctors quickly discovered the horrifying truth—the attacker had shattered a tobacco stick across the back of the baby’s head.
The blow was so severe that the child suffered strokes, seizures, and lasting neurological damage.
“They moved her to UK because this piece of scum shattered a tobacco stick across her head,” Kristen says.
“She was one year and four months old. And now, at age eleven, she still deals with the consequences of what he did.”
Facebook
According to records from the Lee County Circuit Court – Criminal Division, the defendant, Christopher Allen Johnson, faced multiple charges, including: Malicious Wounding and Abuse/Child Serious Injury.
Court documents show Johnson received lengthy sentences for both cases—29 years for malicious wounding and 30 years for child abuse, with portions of the sentence allowed to run concurrently.
Now, nearly a decade after the 2015 attack, his release is imminent.
With Johnson’s release only days away, Kristen says she is terrified. She doesn’t know where he will be living or how close he may be to her family once he leaves prison.
“I’m not sure how to handle all of this,” she says.
“Please pray for my family in the days to come. And please—keep your kids close.”
Facebook
Kristen urges parents to stay vigilant, reminding them how quickly life can change.
“Always remember to love your children while you can,” she writes.
“They can be taken from you faster than you know.”
Facebook
While the community debates the future of a football coach, Kristen is facing the resurgence of a trauma that never ended for her family.
She wants people to understand that some dangers don’t come with headlines or trending hashtags.
“If he wasn’t involved in their football season, you’d never hear about it,” she says of the coach.
“But what about my daughter? What about what was done to her? Why didn’t anyone talk about that?”
Facebook
Now, as the release date approaches, she is asking the community—perhaps for the first time—to listen, to care, and to help spread awareness.
“Share if you feel the need to warn others,” Kristen urges.
For her, this isn’t a local controversy or an online debate. It’s the return of the man who tried to take her baby’s life.
And she fears that once again, the world is looking in the wrong direction.
