Morbid - Episode 92: The Mysterious Death of Jessica Renee Johnson Mini Morbid

Episode Date: September 28, 2019

This one is a real head scratcher. Jessica Johnson, a 37 year old single mother,  is found hanging from a mailbox in broad daylight. Police immediately label it a bizarre suicide but almost all of the evidence points to something much more sinister. The Facebook page Jessica's mother Linda set up: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Interest/What-happened-to-Jessica-Johnson-886316114880842/ Elly Vikere's video about this case: https://youtu.be/pr2dAkY85AU?fbclid=IwAR1bERyewfRQpm1vXfohObJzgkR6iiegreQIC_DWad_jSXb_NXvEKcpEUao Our Sponsor: Hello Fresh! Visit HelloFresh.com/MORBID80 for $80 off your order! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's ANGI, or download the app today. Hey weirdos, my name's Ash. And my name is Elena. I hear the love. And this is more bad. The mini-sauce. Yay! Mini, mini, mini, mini, mini, more bad.

Mini, more bad, mini, mini, mini, mini, more bed, mini, more bed, mini, more bed, mini, more bed! Dude, I am back from Colorado. She is. I feel like I don't know how to podcast anymore. Shout out to Alina, though, for giving you guys a sweet episode. I decided to stop myself from saying dank episode. A postpartum episode, if you will. A postpartum podcast.

A postpartum podcast. Postpartum podcast. Dude, Denver is amazing. You all should go. And seriously, shout out to everybody that gave me recommendations while I was there. I'm really sorry that I couldn't get a drink or like hang out with any of you.

It was just like a crazy four days, but it was amazing. I'm really jealous. I had the time of my life. I got to see like a private DJ set. We were just like walking down the street in the sky. I was like, hey, there's a DJ set going on in there. I don't know why I called a DJ set. I don't think anybody else does that.

I kind of love it. He was like, DJ set. Yo, Grizz is in there and we were like, yeah, fuck you, no he's not. And he was like, go look. And then Griizz was there So I got to see grizz. I got to see big wild and we think Alina thinks I'm speaking Spanish

This literally sounds like a different language. I'm like a grizz. What's a grizz? I went full look this weekend And then I don't know what a look is I don't know what any of this is up to world. It was dank Who am I oldies at? Who else is sitting there going, what? Who? Everett is like, Ash, shut the fuck up. Well, speaking of DJ sets and super hip entertainment, our second live show is sold out. No, I like to say sold the fuck out.

It is sold the fuck out. No more tickets left. If any of them open up, we'll let you know just in case somebody wants to grab them. But right now, it's sold out. And that's pretty red. And we will let you know when our next show is because we're definitely gonna do one after that.

Hell yeah. I don't, was this while I was gone? Murder a pair like released a new shirt for us and it's fucking dope. Oh my God, it's amazing, like released a new shirt for us and it's fucking dope. Oh my God. It's amazing. I'd like five please.

Like the, it's like a cool retro boom box with like guts and skulls and chainsaws, right? And chainsaw and here for the chainsaw. I'm definitely here for the chainsaw. And it says more of it, a true crime podcast which is what we are. That's us, everybody. And if you want to go get that new shirt because you should, you can head on over to their Instagram at Murder Apparel. Click the link in their bio, scroll through their shirts, buy every single one, and use our code morbid at MoR BID.

For 25, I'm gonna say it confidently. Person off, do it, you won't regret it. Cause they're awesome, we love them, you'll love them. Now it's time for your mini. It's time for my mini, guys. Let's get it. Let's do this. Let's get it.

All right, so what's your mini about? My mini is the crazy, curious. many is the crazy curious what I believe is unsolved case of Jessica Renee Johnson. Okay. Now I had not heard of this one before. I just came upon it and I was like, whoa. And by the way guys, if you hear like a giant hog snorting in the background, it's not a hog. That's my beautiful Puggle Bailey just snoring away behind us. She's using it and I don't want to wake her up. We just can't. She's sleeping beauty right now,

and I feel like we owe it to her to let her sleep because I brought another human into the house. So I did her dirty. So she should be able to sleep. I did her dirty. So now this is another case of the investigation immediately focusing on what they wanted the crime scene to reflect.

Instead of actually looking at the crime scene deeper and seeing the signs that things were not what they initially appeared to be. Perfect, you know those. You know those. Was it the LAPD? It wasn't. This is very recent too.

Oh shit. So on June 2nd, 2017. Oh, bitch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jessica Renee Johnson was found deceased in a bizarre and gruesome scene

that has never been fully investigated or understood. Okay. When I get to the scene, your brain might just explode because it's bonkers. Dude, I should be like brain dead from how many times my brain has exploded on this. You really can't. Maybe I am, and I just don't realize it.

This might do it. You know someone out there listening is like, Ash is definitely brain dead. One hundred percent in some of the things. And guess what? You're not broke. Jokes on you, you're right. Jokes on you, I fucking know. I agree.

So, all right. So Jessica Johnson was a 37 year old woman. She was a mother of two children from... Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. She's a single mother.

She was from Horn Lake, Mississippi. She had a daughter who was eight years old and a son who was 19 years old. Kind of a big get. She was very petite like five, three, I think. She was like 115 pounds, just very tiny little lady. And a couple of things that legitimately every single person agrees on when describing her. She's the nicest person that I've ever lived. No, was that she one absolutely adored her kids and would do anything for them. Good. And that she was absolutely stunning.

You look at any pictures of her and you're like, oh my God, that is a beautiful woman. Like she is just gorgeous. I'm a Google, gorgeous. And everyone that's one of the first things and I know people are like, why is that the one thing? But it's like one thing that really stood out about her is just like everyone agrees. She's like universally just beautiful. Now everyone recalled

that she wouldn't go out dressed like a slob or without some glam ever. She was not one to walk outside in pajamas. She was not gonna walk outside without makeup. Like all her friends are like, she went everywhere glammed up. She always had a full face of makeup on. She always had her hair did. She was literally just go to her.

And the first article I open said, she's fancy, a glammed up diva. See? All her friends agree, like she is a glamor girl. Love that. Yeah, and like good for her, agree like she is a glamour girl. Love that. Yeah, and like good for her, man. Hell yeah, get a girl. You gotta do it.

So she was gonna look like a superstar no matter what she was doing. According to True Crime Daily, quote, she was always dressed up and really pretty and she knew it. And that's what her sister Kayla and Sil said. Okay. So she had struggled a bit in recent years,

but was always there for her kids. Her mother said she did suffer with drug addiction, mainly to Xanax on an off. Oh, that's rough. But she was trying to get it together. She was just, you know, she was having a time of it. She was a little lost. Unfortunately recently before her death,

she had started to get in with a bad crowd. All her friends agree with this, that like she was getting in with some bad people. She was dating a guy named Garland Hart. Garland? Yes. And he was a, he was a, a lot. He was a guy. So we're not talking Judy Garland. We are not talking Judy. We're talking like, we're not talking somewhere over the Waring Boat, Shitty Tube Bang Bang, we're not doing any of that. We're talking Garland Heart. Okay. He was into drugs. Oh, no. He was in a cell in drugs. Oh, no. He was abusive. Oh, fuck him. So he's just not a good doobie. Not a good doobie. We don't have time for that lady. We don't. And he used her car for drug dealing. Oh, come on.

Which it's like why are you doing that? Also, you're a drug dealer by your own. Yeah, that's not cool. You have money. I mean, he was in and out of prison. Oh, well, I know. And all her friends were like, it's weird. Like, he was not her type. Like, in the past, like, like a tattooed, you know, like tough guy was usually not her thing. But like recently she had been going for that. So they were like, I don't know. I think she just wanted to fix people, but like, who hasn't been there? Yep. Yep. So October 10, 2013, so going back a little bit, Jessica was actually arrested for felony

possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia. Oh no. The charges were dropped and it ended up that she was caught with some dudes, and they had a bag of meth on them, but they weren't able to pin it down to who's it was. Like it wasn't on her person. It was just in the group where they were. Yeah.

And that's why the charges were dropped, but it's worth mentioning she was running into these situations as of late, unfortunately. But again, recently, she was really trying to get it together. Now, it's said a lot. I've read on a lot of like, you know, Reddit threads and like forums and articles that they kind of describe her as like a party girl

or like she liked to party all the time, blah, blah, blah. But her mother Linda, who's very outspoken about her death and I'll get to her a lot in this. She actually commented herself on a reddit thread about the case several times. Oh, that's a relief. Several times. And she said that this was a complete misconception.

She said she was not, and she was like, I admit, like she was struggling with drugs. Like I'm not trying to paint her as this like angel that didn't have any flaws. Right. But she wasn't a party girl. She wasn't a heavy drinker at all. She didn't go to clubs to party.

She was more looking, she said when she went clubbing before and stuff, she was more looking for love and companionship. Like that's what she was aiming for. And she said, did she make some bad choices? Sure, but she was not a full-on party girl. She was a mother. Right. And of course, I think it was her father who was like, she was not a full-on party girl. She was a mother. Right. And of course, you know, I think it was her father

who was like, you know, she was a great mother and when she was with it, and like she was never a terrible mom or anything, but like when she was having her struggles, sure she wasn't like there all the time, but like, but she always cared about her kids. She always tried her best. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast,

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What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times, or fell in love with a vampire, or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed. What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dunes his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived

a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their first person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually happening. Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts, you can listen to ad free on the Amazon Music or Lundery app. I feel like the second you die and you're like a pretty young girl, they're like, oh, she loved to party. Yeah, the like party girl. You're pretty. You wear makeup, you're a party girl. Right.

So this brings us to the day of May 31st, 2017. This was the last time that Jessica's mother saw her alive. That's so sad. She left her mother's home where she lived because she was living with her parents and her kids in her parents home. You know, just like so her, it was like nice because her kids were growing up around her grandparents who take care of just like, so her, it was like nice because her kids were growing up around their grandparents who take care of them a lot. Like it was a good dynamic. So she left the house and said she was going to be with Garland for a day or two. They were trying to work on their relationship

all about Yadia, Yadia. So she ended up at a house on Angel Drive, where her boyfriend Garland was staying with a guy named Jesse. And you know, he wasn't super stable, so he was having to stay in these houses of other people. This home was only about five miles away from her pants house, so it wasn't far away. Everyone in our life says that this relationship with Garland was not good. It was not healthy, and her mother actually says that it was quote toxic. Oh no. This is giving me serious Phoebe hand struck vibes. Yeah right. It kind of

did. In fact, a lot of her friends and family really just couldn't understand this relationship because like I said, she was never into dudes like this. So they were like just fixing here. Yeah, it was just very weird and they were like, but lately she was just getting into this lifestyle and he was sucking her deeper into it. So none of them were psyched about it. Well, and I think once you're connected to that lifestyle to it's probably very hard to get away from it because you know things that they don't want you to know.

Yeah, for sure. Like you've seen some shit, you've been involved with some shit, like it's probably really tough. And you know, when you feel, when you're like trying to fix someone, you feel like you're like, you can't leave until the job is done, you know what I mean? So honey, just leave. Honey, just leave. I know. Let me tell you. I know I want to like scream it from the rooftops, but unfortunately, she did not. So in an article on WMC five action News, Linda, her mother, said, quote, she told me,

mama, if anything happens to me, go find him. You know I'm not going to mention his name, but go find him. Jesus. And in the same article, the owner of the home that he was staying at, Jesse, his roommate, kind of spun a convenient narrative about what happened to Jessica. Of course he did. Yeah, and it seems, it's suspicious if he asked me.

So he says, this guy Jesse was the owner of the home that she was going to be hanging out with Garlandat for a couple days. He said, quote, from the time that they showed up on Wednesday to Thursday, Jessica seemed out of her normal self. That's the first time I've seen them in months together. And she just, I don't know, she was just really, I think, loves sick. She was more dramatic than I'd ever seen her. Like what does that mean? And once you find out what this whole

thing is, like what happened here, you're going to see why this seems very convenient. Oh, okay. She was being dramatic and emotional. Like I see why you're saying that. So apparently the evening of June 1st, 2017, there was a lot of people at this home in and out, in and out, like, you know, drugs, partying, all this was going on. And this, and according to this guy, Jesse, Jessica and her boyfriend, Harlan, gotten to an argument outside. They were arguing most of the time they were there. And he said that when they were arguing on the driveway, she pulled the shoe strings out of her sneakers and said that she was going to kill herself. Okay. Which like that doesn't make sense. And he said that Garland was like, oh, whatever, like get out of here and just like shut the door on her.

Yeah. Like left. That's nice. Now keep this in mind because this is very convenient later when you find out what happened to Jessica that he happened to see this scenario. And also did she just like throw up a timeout sign and be like, hold on.

That takes them. And then like pull out each of her slings and be like, very dramatic moment. So you know what I mean? Like it's like she. And then like pull out each of her slings and be like, very dramatic moment. So you know what I mean? Like, she didn't just yank them out of her slings. Like, you would pull out like a tablecloth. Right, right. But you know, I mean, like, it doesn't make sense to me.

I'm like, I don't think that happened. So, the guy, so Jesse, again, the owner of the home, said later that night, June 1st, he also got a text message from her after Garland had been like get out of here like you're crazy, go away. Okay. And this text message, he said, was her talking about quote, she just didn't want to feel the pain anymore or anything. Mm-hmm. Convenient again. Yep. Now, on June 1st, Jessica spoke with her mother and her daughter on FaceTime. So, on that day, she had spoken to her mother, she had spoken to her daughter on FaceTime. Yeah. And she told both of them, I'm going to be coming home today.

She didn't, obviously. Mm-hmm. That's not like her. This was not, it's not common for her to say, I'm going to be home and then just not come because she cared about those kids. She wouldn't do that to them. It just wasn't. She wasn't in the habit of dicking her kids around. She wasn't. She wasn't. In according to True Crime Daily, her mother Linda said, quote, Thursday, I kept trying to get in touch with her. I said, this is very unusual for Jessica. She always made sure that she texted. And most of the time, she would even send me her location. Mm-hmm. And she didn't do any of that. And you couldn't, she couldn't get in touch with her at all.

At 3.29 a.m. on June 1st. So that night, after Garland has already told her to go, like, fuck off, her son, her 18 or 19 year old son, received a text message from her phone at 3.30 in the morning. Saying, I have not been able to find what this text message is. Oh, come on. I can't find it anywhere. But why would she text her son at 3.30 in the morning? That doesn't make any sense. Now, in what was in the text message, isn't so important. It's the time that this text message was sent and keep that time in mind.

3.30 a.m. 3.30 a.m. So on the morning of June's June 2nd, a woman male carrier walked up to the mailbox that was outside of this home and discovered Jessica's deceased body. Next to the mailbox, the scene was horrifying. Yes, next to the mailbox, but you'll never guess how. So this male carrier ran and got another male carrier to come to the scene because she like freaked out. Yeah. And this person, this male carrier took an infamous photograph of the crime scene, which is good that they did because, honestly, the police boxed this so bad.

I don't even know if they would have taken a photo. The photo is very chilling. It's very graphic. Did you look at it? It's not likely how Jessica would want to be. Remember the trade. I looked at it for this case because it's, her mother actually sent this photo to news outlets

when she did interviews because she was like, show this photo because this is not what they're saying. It is. And it be warned if you Google it, it is, it's an upsetting photo. It's not a fun thing to look. If you Google the case, Jessica Renee Johnson, it will pop up just so you know. And if you want to or not. So Jessica was found in front of the home she had been saying that she was next to the mailbox.

She was in the kneeling position sitting up. This mailbox was surrounded by tons of long grass like overgrown. There were two shoelaces tied together, tied around her neck, with the other end of them tied to the wooden pole holding the mailbox into the ground. Uh-huh. So she was hung on the mailbox. One of the shoelaces was pulled tightly across her face. Oh, Jesus. And across her mouth as well.

So it pulled her top lip up and this like creepy snarl kind of thing. And her head was looking upwards, like tilted up. To me, this would make it look like someone stood behind her in strangled hair while she looked up at them, but we'll get into that after. Now, if you were, they, because they initially, obviously, everybody's like suicide, she hung herself on a mailbox. If you were to kill yourself

in this manner, you would need to use your body weight to strangle yourself. So you would likely face away from the post and lean forward to use your weight as leverage to strangle yourself so that you could just kind of like fall forward and let your body weight do the work for you. She was found lean against the post with the string across her face, which would mean she would have to just like pull her head to the side to strangle herself, which doesn't make a lot of sense. She wouldn't be able to give herself. And then when she have just like stayed in that position, like exactly, it's just it's too too and we're gonna go very far into this later, but it's just all weird. Now oddly, her hair is down and the shoelace was that was tied around her neck was also tied over her hair. Like her hair wasn't pulled out of

the shoelace for it to lay against her skin. Yeah. That's weird. And there's there's been a lot, this has been a topic of interest, this one piece of evidence, because There's been a lot, this has been a topic of interest, this one piece of evidence, because when you would like think about it as a girl or anybody with long hair, for that matter, if your hair is stuck in something, you pull it out. It's insensual. And if you were trying to kill yourself by hanging yourself with a shoelace string, you would want that shoelace to be up against your skin, not buffered by your hair. Right. Because that wouldn't give you enough to strangle. So just keep that in mind. Her purse was open and situated on the ground between her legs.

Her right hand was also between her legs and appears to be clutching a wallet or a small change purse of some sort. And her other hand is not really seen, but it's like slightly behind her on the ground. Yeah, like just in a weird position. She's also wearing really casual clothing. She's wearing a gray camo t-shirt. That's like baggy and just like regular jeans. Which like wasn't her deal.

No. And she doesn't have any makeup on and her hair is not done at all, which normally wouldn't be of importance with Jessica is a known glamour girl. And she was never seen without makeup done. This is weird. There was clothes that she was wearing.

Everyone who's looked at that, that knows her is like, I've never seen those clothes on her. That's weird. Like she did not own those clothes. And they were like, and she wouldn't wear that. her. That's weird. Like she did not own those clothes. And they were like, and she wouldn't wear that. Right. It's just not just not her. Now police really botched this shit from the jump. Because this is a really weird fucked up scene. It's a woman hung

never heard on a mailbox in broad daylight. Like, it's just very odd. They were apparently parking their cars like way too close to the body in the scene. And if you look at crime scene photos, you can see they've corded it off the scene, but the cars are right on it. So there's like exhaust to this people walking through it. It's like they really fucked it up. And they basically looked at Jessica as a sometimes struggling addict hanging out with tough people.

And they said, well, this is clearly a suicide case closed. That's not fair. They didn't even consider another possibility. They were like, suicide. She hung herself on the post. So the DeSoto County coroner, Jeff Pounders, said her death was death, suicide via asphyxiation by ligature and that was it.

And her mom was like, yeah, right. Go fuck yourself. Exactly. And on mom was like, yeah, right. Go fuck yourself. Exactly. And on the death certificate, it says that no autopsy was performed. But later, well, later they discovered that a partial one was performed. So that's weird.

Yeah. And immediately everyone she knew was like, no, no, no way. And of course, everyone's going to, I know people here like that she would never commit suicide. I know her, she wouldn't do that. A lot of them said that. And of course, none of us can know what's going on in someone's brain.

I will devil's advocate that and say like, you could say, I would never peg that person to commit suicide. But literally, every single person you know is saying, man, it's like, I mean, that, it's sure, for sure, but like, I can also see how it's like, I mean, that it's sure for sure But like I can also see how that's like for sure that you can keep on sides. You can't always know someone who's struggling You can put on a happy I mean Robin Williams, you know, like

Yeah, sometimes it was I don't have to be around you like Chester Bennington He was super depressed and had done it like tried it before Yeah, the night before there's like a video of him smiling happy playing with his family. Oh, that's so sad. Oh my God, Chester Bennington destroyed me guys. I'm not gonna lie. So the suicide angle just doesn't make sense. And it's worth noting that she did not OD.

That was proven, there was a toxicology report, but she did have masks and Xanax in her system when she died. Okay. There was not enough to kill her or incapacitate her. But that wasn't her system. And this is why a lot of people think the case isn't getting the proper attention that she deserves. Because they just like... Yeah, investigators are just looking at it like she's a drug addict.

Right. She got in with a bad crowd. She was probably depressed. She's on the stuff. She probably just went crazy and hung herself on drug addict. Right. She got in with a bad crowd. She was probably depressed. She's on the stuff. She probably just went crazy and hung herself on a mailbox. Yeah. No.

Doesn't make any sense, but that's probably what they're thinking. Uh, so you're gonna have detective work. Exactly. Now, also, there was a security camera that was owned by the homeowner, Jessie. Mm-hmm. And it was pointed at the mailbox. So it was like pointed, because the mailbox was right on the road,

you know, like it's pointing towards that area. It would include the mailbox. So tell me what happened in this video. Well, obviously, that's the smoking gun. That's going to tell us what happened, right? Yeah. Yeah. No police never asked to access it.

And the homeowner never offered it or looked at it himself. And now it's gone. So he lit it. So this happens on your mailbox outside. You have a video camera that points right at it and you never look at that video to be like, I need to know what happened. Yeah, or give it to the police. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, just like what you don't have the passcode to your own security system.

Cool. Yeah. And then he said, Oh, you know what? It might not have been on at the time. Oh, you know what? I think it already recorded over like the next day. You know, the police didn't ask me like he came up with literally 45 different stories. And so far, we have no idea what was on the actual terms.

Now what tell you? So obviously the Johnson's don't believe any of this shit. And they hired a private forensic scientist and investigator named Maurice Godwin. And Maurice Godwin worked on the Casey Anthony case. Oh, shit. So he's really, he's like noted as like working on high profile cases.

Uh, he also disagreed with the suicide angle, like vehemently. He was like immediately. He was like, no, he's like, yeah, no. Yeah, not even a little bit. And he also said was the one that was like, um, a partial autopsy was performed. I don't know why it says there wasn't one. Uh, he told Crimewatch Daily that he doesn't agree with any of this. And he said, quote, based on the way the string is around her Adam's apple here, she would have never been passed out anyway, because I don't think there was enough pressure to cut off the air.

And he said, the majority of the force and the pressure was on her cheekbone. And he also said in this position, she would have been in excruciating pain the entire time. Right. He was like, this is literally the worst way to go. Because if she really did this to herself, she would have been pulling to the side and literally slowly strangling while her hair is ripping out in the shoelaces in like, you just want to do that. None of it makes sense. It doesn't make any sense. So he also said about the shoelaces themselves,

because there were two shoelaces tied together. Once tied in a new surrounding neck, the other one is tied to the pole, and they're tied together. They were tied together at the very ends of the shoelaces, very precisely. And she was supposedly even doing this if she did it herself in the middle of the night, in complete darkness.

And she did this perfect, precise, like, night. Yeah. In complete darkness. Right. And she did this perfect precise, like, no. Sorry, I don't think so. And Dr. Godwin said, quote, in my opinion, she didn't tie this. The kind, the not used to tie the shoelaces together is so precisely tied really close to the end. So to me, that would be difficult to tie this without proper lighting. And the Johnson's also hired another expert who was a former

Memphis police officer named Roe Marino. He said, quote, someone that's coming in a radically trying to hang themselves in the cover of darkness and you look here and this is a rural rural area, rural juror. It was very dark, No street lights. No nothing. It's not going to be a precise knot. To me and to anyone that has any common sense, they would know that this is not suicide by hanging. She was placed here. A hundred percent. Yeah, and they both said this was a stage scene. She was staged. She was set up either as a message or either way she was set up to look like she killed herself, but they didn't do a good job They just happen to get it past the fucking police office. Where was this again? Mississippi. Okay. Now the whole scene is bizarre obviously, but the purse to me screams that this was staged

Because her hand is resting next to it and clutching what looks like a wallet Mm-hmm And this would it be the case if she was desperately and in an odd way trying to hang her herself in the dead of night, why would her wallet be in her hand? No, I would be holding her fucking wallet. And how would it stay that way? Like it wouldn't. And to be honest, it makes it look like more like she was murdered because it looks like she was either staged that way, which I don't know why it would be staged that way,

after her dying somewhere else, or she was possibly desperately trying to plead with her killer, to stop and perhaps pull her wallet out, out, to like, bribe them or something. Why would she be holding that? And coming out of the purse is like a pink phone charger cord that's like spilled out of the top of the purse. And it's just odd because it looks like she was looking through her purse when something happened. It was placed in a way that makes it look like she was on her knees, digging in her purse, maybe trying to get something out and then boom,

something happens. Was there a phone in her purse, you know? Her phone, we're actually gonna get to the phone, the phone is a big deal. Also, one side of the purse, where the strap, like the metal part of the strap, connects to the purse, it was ripped, like someone tore it away while she was holding it. Okay. Yeah, it was weird. That's bizarre. So none of the, and none of this was looked at as evidence. None of it. Awesome. Great. Yeah. So when the family saw post-mortem photos of Jessica taken at the morgue,

they also noticed something else strange about it that nobody had mentioned. What? Her left arm, the one that's obscured in the photo, it was in shocking condition. What was wrong with it? First, there was a mark that looks suspiciously like a chuprint on her arm.

And they were trying to investigate her, try to say now like, oh, I think it was the the grass that was like imprinting in her. No, it's clearly, it looks like a boot print. It looks like somebody stood on her arm. And it was like very insane indent. There was also clear bruising around her wrists, like somebody was grabbing her. cruising around her wrists. Like somebody was grabbing her. Like ligature or was grabbing her. And then there's these bloody speckles all over her hand and arm.

And it looks like a chemical burn. Like somebody splattered like something, some chemical on her that left little burns in her skin. Okay, and nobody thought anything of that. No, and then also there's clearly blood around and in her fingernails. Oh, what? Where the fuck did that come from? Right. What? She's just bleeding out of her fingernails. Like, that doesn't make any sense to me all the time.

And it's under her fingernails. None of it was tested. None of it. And nobody questioned this chemical burn and these ligature or grabbing marks. Oh, that's like fucking, um, what's her name? Tammy? Yeah. The chemical on her face. When they were like, oh, yeah, that's a rug burn. It's fine. Oh, yeah, for sure.

Like her friend Lee Ann Marino said, quote, there were holes in her hand, holes. Like, and if you, there's a picture of her left arm, the one that they, that they were looking at and the one that they took online. If you Google this case, it will come up in images, just so you know. And it's shocking.

You're like, what? That's not a normal hand, right? What happened? They just not want to do anything that day. I guess so, it's very odd. So they, and her mother said, there were marks on her wrists and arms, like we said. And and she said it looks like she was bound and possibly injected with something like some of the bruising looks like. Yeah, it's very odd.

Now the next thing is her cell phone. What's up with that. Her cell phone was found. It was in her purse. Her phone was locked and no one has the code. Now the pass code was changed during this time. After that 329 AM text message was sent to her son. Now if she's trying to kill herself in the middle of the night and sending a thing to her son somehow. Are you gonna go change your passcode?

No, no, you're not. Now, this could mean that somebody sent those texts that were supposedly sent by TestGestica, which is what I believe, to like throw off the timing and like make it look like that. Or the person could have either known the passcode, which supposedly garlanded. Or they could have used her finger to unlock that thing.

And then they had already, and that could have been when they already killed her or incapacitated her, and just used her finger. Right. Now, police have not tried to access it, but police were like, nope, we can't access it. Why? No idea. And they outright refused to use her fingerprint to open it. Because even though she's dead,

you can use her fingerprint to open it. And even though the cell phone is in her father's name, it's not even in her name. And her father's alive and well. Yeah, he can say. Apple won't unlock it. Why? I have no idea.

But it's making me nuts and I'm like, what? I feel like I'm going to be so frustrated. I'm already frustrated. And I think I'm just going to be frustrated. Police could have used her fingerprint and they didn't. It makes me nuts. It's such a botched opportunity. And now she's cremated. Oh, shit. Yep. So the opportunity is completely gone. Oh, shit. Yep. So the opportunity is completely gone. Now what happened was Jessica's parents were so like distraught and just like crazed when this happened that they made the decision to cremate her for financial reasons. And now they are like filled with regret. Oh, they thought that the police had taken all this into intelligence. And they thought that the phone could be open. They

didn't think they would have to use her deceased finger to open it. Why the fuck would you ever think like that? So they didn't think any of that was going to be an issue. And now she's cremated. And they've lost a lot of, you know, there's still has to be some way to get into her phone though. I can like jailbreak it or something. I can't Apple open it. Apple could. I don't know why they won't. It's ridiculous.

So everybody thinks that that cell phone holds everything. Probably. They were like, they think it's going to tell you everything you need to know about what happened. And I bet it does. Much I bet they're going to lose it in evidence. And I'm sure because, oh, they lost some evidence. So good call.

I'm truly not sure. Yeah, I was going to say, are you shocked? Now now remember, like I said, her son received a text message from her at 3.29 a.m. that day. Dr. Godwin, the guy, the forensic, uh, investigator that the Johnson's hired, said that he thought Jessica had been dead for at least eight hours, according to what he had seen. So she would have already been dead of that time. When the mail carrier had found her. That would mean that the text was sent either right around when she was dying or even after she was dead.

And what he said is, quote, either somebody had her phone somewhere else and sent that message, or they were standing at the mailbox at around 3.30 AM, sent the message to try to throw everything off and then just put it in her purse and walked away. Right. Either way. And now, they're thinking her time of death

is actually between 12 and 2 a.m. that night. So even earlier than they originally thought. So that would put that text message way after she died. Right. So she didn't send that text message. It didn't happen. It didn't make sense to me anyways because she's a mother. She's a caring mother. Despite any of her faults.

You don't take it. She's not going to text her kid at 3 30 in the morning. That's like that just it didn't make sense to me. So what happened? Well, I don't know. Now the boyfriend Garland definitely looks like a good suspect. 100%. Him and Jesse, in my opinion, Garland and her relationship was volatile. Like we said, there was abuse. But he's him and Jesse, and this is crazy to me, are both saying now that they

don't think it was suicide. They're a green. But they're agreeing now being like, no, they don't think it was suicide. Well, yeah, that's convenient. But they're agreeing now being like, no, I don't think she killed herself. Like we didn't do it, but I know somebody which could either be while they're telling the truth or it could be, wow, that's a really good way to throw off suspension, I think, which is kind of what I think. And also Garland has a girlfriend now who he was, I believe cheating on Jessica with at the time. Perfect. And she claimed recently that Garland was with her that whole night.

When Garland and everyone who was at that house are already saying that he was at that house. So she's like, she's like giving him a weird alibi that he doesn't need. Yeah. It's like you're just making it look worse. Yeah. You're now just going. Go away girl. Go home.

Now her friend said he was mentally abusive, physically abusive to her. just making it look worse. Yeah, you're now just go go away girl. Go. Now, her friend said he was mentally abusive physically abusive to her and that she knew that he could hurt her. That's what they said. And some of them actually said, I think her friend Michelle Bland said that at more than one occasion, she would have to like come get her after they were fighting. And she would say this guy is gonna kill me. Okay, that's not good. Which that's not good. And again, Jesse said when they showed up on Wednesday,

they got in a huge fight and were fighting the entire time. And on Thursday before she died, she actually called a friend to help her. And they said, it was Liam, I think it was Liam, Liam Marano. She said, quote, she was locked in the bathroom with her cell phone, afraid of Garland. She wanted her girlfriend to come pick her up and get her out of there. That's not good. So that should tell you something. She said, when she got there,

Garland wouldn't let her in. He said that Jessica was being crazy. She was the one starting everything. She was the problem. And he said, You know, maybe you should just take her out of here. I can't handle her. I'd be like, yeah, I'm taking my friend and she's never coming back. Yeah, and she said that it happened, but after like 45 minutes just her friend ended up leaving in Jessica state at the house because she was like she wasn't coming with me. She wanted to work things out. I was like whatever. I really think she for wasting my time. Yeah, exactly. Now, recently, Hart was up for domestic abuse charges and assault charges recently and someone else.

Perfect. So he's got it in him. Yeah. To be a shit. Now, and he's also claiming he's really leaning into this. He's saying, you know, I don't even care about my name being cleared. And like that family is accusing me of this. And I understand that they need someone to blame. Like he's trying to be, he's trying to, he's trying way too hard. And he's saying, but all I want to know is what happened to Jessica. I don't care if my name gets cleared in this. Yeah. Right. And he's, and then he's going like, you know, wise her mother spreading all these lies. Doesn't she want to know the truth? Doesn't she want to really investigate this? And it's like, do she is?

Yeah, like what the fuck are you talking about? Yeah, it's like, come on. Now, it's worth mentioning that at some point during the stay at Jessie's house, Jessica went to pick up her friend. I believe her name was Katie up from work. And when she went to get her, she was very upset, Jessica. And Katie was like, oh shit. Apparently, Jessie had called Jessica and was like,

hey, Garland is in the bedroom with two ladies. Oh no. And she was like a mess. So Katie drove her back to the house and was like, I'll go get your stuff for you. And I'll just take you away from here, like fuck that guy. Yeah. But Jessica was so upset and she was like,

I want to talk to him, I want to work things out upset and she was like, I want to talk to them. I want to work things out. I want to like I want to see what's going on. And Katie ended up being like, whatever dude. And just at some point you just have to be like, yeah, like she was like, I can't do this. Right. So this is when the suicide threat

with the shoe laces allegedly happened. Oh, that Jesse was talking about where like, they were fighting and she was like, I'm just going to kill myself with these. And so that was when he sent her pack in. That's when he was like, I can't handle you anymore, you're crazy. Go away. That was like around 6 p.m. I think. So then there's nine hours between then and when she's found that are unaccounted for. When she's found at Jessie's house. And right outside of her house. Yeah, it's like right outside of her house. She wasn't just chill

in there for nine hours. No one noticed. That's the thing. It doesn't make any sense. And so again, the fact that she, so the fact that she didn't pull her hair out from under that string makes no sense. Well, hold on. Why would she go back there to kill herself? Exactly. It's like, where did she go? Right. And then she came back and was like, you know what? I'm gonna do it at this mail box. Like, no, that's in this outfit that no one has ever seen me wear, not it's none of it makes sense. And now her cause of death is still a spictiation by hanging suicide.

It's still labeled like that. The state medical examiner was going to do another report. I couldn't find anything about what came out of that, or if it has come out of that, it still could be happening because those can take forever. But a couple of other things that make this even weirder is there was blood found on her shoes, the sneakers that were son's laces. Those shoes were not on her when shoes found.

They were in the house. Okay, so that makes no fucking sense. And the shoes were never processed or, and that blood was never tested. What the fuck? And those shoes were sent back to her family. With blood on them. What? Yeah.

And it would also make sense to check those shoelaces for touch DNA, right? Because if somebody else side those, someone else's hands was on them. Yeah. Well, yeah, but they lost them. They lost, wait, they lost the shoelaces. They literally lost the thing they killed.

Quote unquote. What? Lost them. Don't know where they are. Like the biggest piece of evidence at that scene, they lost. Are you kidding? What?

Like how? Yeah, I can't. I don't know how that happens. It's like how in a chain of custody situation and evidence do you lose evidence? I don't understand that. That doesn't make any sense. They obviously just didn't give a shit. Because it's like, where's the chain of custody? Where did it get broken? Or they didn't lose it. This is like some weird, like, cover up. Yeah, there's no chain of custody there. Also, the clothes she was wearing, the ones that everybody's like, what the fuck are those clothes?

They lost those. They were, so nobody could find these clothes out. Like, they were lost and they were like, what the fuck? Her clothes were incinerated at the funeral home because they were sent to the funeral home in a biohazard bag, which doesn't make sense because they didn't have any fluids on them.

Right. So they were incinerated, so any evidence on them are gone. The shoelaces are missing. This is botched as fuck, right? And also, that night she had collected like 500 bucks from three friends because she was going to be buying meth with it. She didn't spend it all on meth. Methods $500. No, I guess it's not. Oh. So she had like a ton left over. Okay.

I think like all together, she had through $500, she didn't get them like $500 from friends. Oh. But like she all together had that on her. Her wallet was empty and the drugs were not in her purse. Mm-hmm. And her wallet, remember, was in her hand. So... And it had no money in it?

It's like, did someone kill her, then go in her wallet, take that money and take the drugs and peace? Maybe. Like, you don't know. So all this, and we still don't have that video footage, the camera that was pointed at the fucking mailbox. And what I would love to see is the report, like the autopsy report, because I want to see like levity, like rigor state, like I want to see all of this,

because none of this is out there, and it's so pertinent in the report you can't find. So it's like, I don't know what's going on here. I also want to know, and I haven't found it yet. If I do all update this, if there was particular hemorrhaging or particular on her, because that's common in hanging cases. And what it is, it's some hemorrhages that occur when blood leaks from the capillaries that are in your eyes. And it can, it ruptures because of the increased pressure on the veins in the head and when the airways are obstructed uh, obstructed. Okay. So they, that's why it often happens in hanging cases.

What they show up as are like tiny, tiny little like pinpoint dots of red. And they're often found in like the conjunctiva of the eye, which is the part underneath your eyelid, like that shit under there. Uh-huh. And it can also be found like around your face, like around your eyes. And it's just based, it's hemorrhaging because your airways are cut off, you know. Yeah. When these are found, it kind of suggests that the victim was hung while still alive. Oh. So it is often very helpful to look between like a murder that is staged to look like a suicide or an actual suicide. Because if the person's dead before they pretended to hang them, they're not gonna have a particular

homeraging. But if they have particular homeraging, they were alive on that new swimmer on their neck. Right. So that would be very pertinent in this case. Just because she had them, then it doesn't, still does improve that she did it herself, but it would show us that she was alive when she was next to that mailbox.

Right. And there's just so much botched opportunities. Now Linda Jessica's mother is a fierce advocate for her daughter's case. And there's a Facebook page run by her called What Happened to Jessica Johnson. And I'm going to link this Facebook page in the show notes. I got some of this information like the one about her friend Katie, you know, bringing her back to the house after finding out about the two girls. I found that out from a YouTuber named Ellie Vickair. I think it is Vickair. She does, she's like awesome, her channel. Really? Yeah, I was really really I'd start I fell into like a hole in her channel

I love it. She does these like true crime I think like Sundays or something she goes really hard into a case cool And she did a great job on this one So if you're looking to hear more go check her out because she's pretty red and she does it she does a lot of true crime really justice so and she actually spoke to Linda for her episode Oh, wow. So yeah, so she got some stuff to directly from Linda. And what she said was Linda told her that any information would ease her mind. Uh-huh. So she said, if you have any information about this case or know

anybody surrounding this, to contact Linda via the Facebook page. And she was like, the police don't give a shit about this case. So nobody's coming after you. That's so sad. Just Facebook page. And she was like, the police don't give a shit about this case, so nobody's coming after you. That's so sad. Just tell me. And she was like, all I want to know is what happened to my daughter. My daughter didn't kill herself. Right. And that's where it ends. That's like really frustrating. I need so many more answers. I know. I'm saying. You do that. I know. I'm sorry. But this one was such a like, you do that. I know I'm sorry but this one was such a like mind-bender and I'm not telling you all to go look at the photo but the photo will just have you sitting there scratching your head because you're like how do you look at that and say suicide. Right. How? Like and then again worth

noting Jessica wouldn't have done it that way. That's not how. If I can buy that not everybody knows when someone is suicidal, people can hide it very easily. I'm not saying she was, but she could have been depressed, who knows, but you know the person and you know that they wouldn't have done it a certain way. Yeah, there's gonna be a way she would have done that.

Who would think to tie themselves to a mailbox. The weirdest way to do it in one month. And then she disappeared for like nine hours. Like she wasn't just sitting at the mailbox for nine hours. And it's like she was not, and her mother said, I think it was her mother and like her friends. They all said, if she was gonna kill herself, if we're buying into that,

she would have taken Xanax and she would have had a full face to make up and it would be laying in bed like sleeping beauty. They were like, she would have looked phenomenal. And they were like, there's no way. And statistically, women, like females, do tend to kill themselves in more passive ways, like taking overdoses.

So this is out of the norm, and obviously people do deviate from the norm, like it's not all statistically perfect. But this just doesn't make sense. And especially somebody that's like very like, like, has the same tendencies. Yeah, it is like very all about how they are presenting themselves. This doesn't, this is a brutal way to present yourself for your last. Yeah, it just says, and it's like the way that the shoelaces like across her face, it makes her like,

you just want to do that to yourself. Yeah, it just doesn't, in like the physics of it, don't make sense when you look at her because the way she would have fallen, it doesn't make sense that she would have been able to struggle to find the video or like did nothing with the video is super shady. The hair in the in the string instead of on top of the string where it would have made more

sense. Right. None of it. It's just it's really frustrating. Yeah, I don't understand any of that. This one I 100% do not believe she killed herself 100%. No, one part of me believes it. No. Me either. So that is the really unfortunate and very open case, because they are still trying to get this thing cracked back open. Yeah. And the police all say, well, it's a death investigation if something else comes up, we will. It's like we've given you a 400 different things.

Like what do you have left to look at? Exactly. Because you fucking lost everything. Well, that was like a wild ride. Yeah. That was a good one to come back to. I'm saying. So that is the brutal and hopefully someday solved case of the death of Jessica Renee Johnson. Well, while you guys are looking more into this case, make sure you head over to Instagram

and follow us at morbid podcast. Hit us up on Twitter. A morbid podcast. Join the Facebook group. It's amazing. It really is morbid. Colin, a program podcast. Send us the Gmail morbid podcast. Join the Facebook group. It's amazing. It really is morbid. Colin, a program podcast, send us the Gmail morbid podcast at gmail.com. We are getting so many listener stories and it's amazing. We're going to be able to do one like every week. Yeah, I love that. Also check out the website that Alina designed morbidpodcast.com. We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird. I don't think I'm gonna do one. Yeah that's a wrap. That's a wrap. That's a wrap. But not so weird but no. No. Oh my foot's asleep. Bye. Just not super weird. That's all. Just don't. Just don't do that. Bye. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music.

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