By Walter Geiger
Twenty-six years ago this past Friday, Donna Johnson died a violent death.
Her murder remains unsolved and, for two generations, Lamar countians have remained largely in the dark as to how she died.
Donna Johnson with her mother Beulah Ogletree who died earlier this year without ever learning the identities of those who killed her daughter.
Donna Johnson died hard
They have relied on rumor and innuendo.
Dark tales circulated of roaming serial killers, Miami Boys gang members on the loose and a mysterious green pickup truck.
Donna’s car, a 1971 Buick Skylark, was found at a dumpster site at the corner of Piedmont and The Rock Roads at 4:40 p.m. Two dogs were locked inside. The windows were left cracked open to allow the dogs to breathe.
She was reported missing by Mike Johnson, her nephew.
Until 2005, the working theory was Donna was abducted while dumping trash. An investigation begun at that time by then-sheriff Joe Buice led him to believe the entire scene at the dumpsters was staged.
Donna died hard. She was hogtied, sexually violated with a metal rod, run over by a vehicle and finally dispatched with three blows to the head from a roofing hatchet or similar object.
Donna also fought her killers hard. Buice had her body exhumed in 2005 to look for DNA under her fingernails and the keys to her car which, to this day, have never been located.
As word got out that Donna was missing, dozens of volunteers gathered to search for her. They gathered at the dumpsters and spread out in different directions.
Alas, the search was unorganized and interrupted by a deluge that dumped over an inch and a half of rain in a short period of time.
Among those who joined the search was Herman Coffey. He was dismayed by the lack of coordination.
“Nobody was conducting a grid search. It was totally unorganized,” Coffey said.
Coffey waited out the rain. He and his brother and several others started a grid search of a corn field off The Rock Road perhaps a quarter mile from the dumpsters.
“We did a proper search of the field and found nothing. I spotted the road and decided to walk down it. I found the body and started hollering,” Coffey said.
Donna was found lying across the narrow road.
Her head was in one rut and her feet in the other.
She had been gagged with her own bra and panties. Her blue jeans had been cut and pulled down to thigh level.
Donna’s body was removed from the scene in an ambulance operated by the late Ira Hamm, then owner of Hamm’s Funeral Home and operator of the county ambulance. According to several close to the investigation, the body was placed in a body bag that had been used multiple times previously.
Inexplicably, Donna’s body was taken to the courthouse and then to a hospital in Thomaston where she was pronounced dead and an autopsy performed.
Donna had been tortured. When her killer struck the three blows to her head, she was put out of prolonged misery.
Donna was gone. She left behind grief, anger and a 26-year-old mystery.
Over the next two weeks we will post the stories of those close to the case in their own words. All 17 of those stories were originally published in the 6.13.2010 print/e-edition.
Coming this week in The Herald-Gazette: The impact of entomology on the Johnson investigation and how it changed the timeline associated with her death. Subscribe here.
Dark tales circulated of roaming serial killers, Miami Boys gang members on the loose and a mysterious green pickup truck.
Donna’s car, a 1971 Buick Skylark, was found at a dumpster site at the corner of Piedmont and The Rock Roads at 4:40 p.m. Two dogs were locked inside. The windows were left cracked open to allow the dogs to breathe.
She was reported missing by Mike Johnson, her nephew.
Until 2005, the working theory was Donna was abducted while dumping trash. An investigation begun at that time by then-sheriff Joe Buice led him to believe the entire scene at the dumpsters was staged.
Donna died hard. She was hogtied, sexually violated with a metal rod, run over by a vehicle and finally dispatched with three blows to the head from a roofing hatchet or similar object.
Donna also fought her killers hard. Buice had her body exhumed in 2005 to look for DNA under her fingernails and the keys to her car which, to this day, have never been located.
As word got out that Donna was missing, dozens of volunteers gathered to search for her. They gathered at the dumpsters and spread out in different directions.
Alas, the search was unorganized and interrupted by a deluge that dumped over an inch and a half of rain in a short period of time.
Among those who joined the search was Herman Coffey. He was dismayed by the lack of coordination.
“Nobody was conducting a grid search. It was totally unorganized,” Coffey said.
Coffey waited out the rain. He and his brother and several others started a grid search of a corn field off The Rock Road perhaps a quarter mile from the dumpsters.
“We did a proper search of the field and found nothing. I spotted the road and decided to walk down it. I found the body and started hollering,” Coffey said.
Donna was found lying across the narrow road.
Her head was in one rut and her feet in the other.
She had been gagged with her own bra and panties. Her blue jeans had been cut and pulled down to thigh level.
Donna’s body was removed from the scene in an ambulance operated by the late Ira Hamm, then owner of Hamm’s Funeral Home and operator of the county ambulance. According to several close to the investigation, the body was placed in a body bag that had been used multiple times previously.
Inexplicably, Donna’s body was taken to the courthouse and then to a hospital in Thomaston where she was pronounced dead and an autopsy performed.
Donna had been tortured. When her killer struck the three blows to her head, she was put out of prolonged misery.
Donna was gone. She left behind grief, anger and a 26-year-old mystery.
Over the next two weeks we will post the stories of those close to the case in their own words. All 17 of those stories were originally published in the 6.13.2010 print/e-edition.
Coming this week in The Herald-Gazette: The impact of entomology on the Johnson investigation and how it changed the timeline associated with her death. Subscribe here.
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I hope I get to meet him one day soon in person and be able to say, "Thanks, Walter...because of you and your crews, the case has been solved." The time is right, you know. A lot happens in twenty-six years. People really want to get things off their chest. So if you know even a little fact that may seem insignificant, TELL IT. It may be very significant to someone else and trigger another memory.
How stupid do you think people are?
Larry does not perform for the BHG, makes a big difference to some when they don't see editor praises in the paper, but not to me.
How do you know Larry Waller is not following up on all leads? AS YOU SAID, before you accuse someone of NOT doing their job you should look at ALL parties involved.
Larry does not perform for the BHG, makes a big difference to some when they see editor praises in the paper, but not to me.
As to Milam, the same argument applies. Byron Smith was the DA when this happened. Tommy Floyd was the DA for years after that. Both of those men are/were widely respected prosecutors. Neither of them could put a case together either, and they were dealing with far fresher evidence than Milam has had to work with.
There may be a good chance that law enforcement knows who did it, but unless the evidence still exists to legally PROVE who did it, I fear we will never see this case closed. Unfortunately, the time and opportunity to collect the most important evidence in this case was lost long before either Waller or Buice ever became sheriff. Monaghan is dead, Hamm is dead, and all we have now are historical records and memories that are more than a quarter of a century old. Absent a confession, it seems we will never have closure.
Lord, I still pray that you will guide the minds of those who are seeking justice in this case and also convict the heart of the killer(s) to come forward and bring closure to Donna Johnson's family and our community. In Lord Jesus Christ's Name I pray...Amen!
Walter, please keep this story in the paper in some shape, form, or fashion. You are Donna's only voice right now as she cries out from her grave to please help her remaining family members bring her killer(s) to justice. Thank you so much and every bit of information or news blurb that mentions this crime will bring draw the wicked coward out of hiding. Kudos!
Not that buice cared though, but the DA just can't pursue it without substantial evidence.
Thank you Walter for your coverage of this case. This type of thing is gruesome and hard to stomach. I can not even imagine dying this way. I hope we find out every last detail and people can draw whatever opinion from it they want to. Donna deserves some sort of justice whether or not that justice is a guilty verdict.
yes it is, but not everyone's comments will be posted. Mine weren't.