Jennifer Johnson~Slain Florida Mom Dialed 911 From Car Trunk

[MuffyBee]

Slain Florida Mom Dialed 911 From Car Trunk
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. —  A young mother called 911 from the trunk of a car before she was found slain in an abandoned home, police said.

Investigators are now using the eerie recording as they try to piece together what happened to Jennifer Johnson, 31.

Law enforcement officials declined to discuss details of the call, but Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy called it "chilling and disturbing."

Johnson's family reported her missing a week ago when she failed to show up for a birthday party she'd planned for her 2-year-old daughter.

The night before, she was seen arguing with her ex-boyfriend at a Tampa nightclub, police said. The two were last seen at his parents' home around 3 a.m.

Four days later, police were called to an empty home in a quiet neighborhood in Lakeland, about 30 miles east of Tampa. A neighbor who had gone to check on the property looked through an open door and saw Johnson's body, said Jack Gillen, a spokesman with the Lakeland Police Department. He declined to say how Johnson died.

Investigators said her boyfriend, George Vincent Brown Jr., is a person of interest, but he has not been charged in her death. Brown turned himself in to police earlier this week and is being held without bond on a charge of violating his probation.

McElroy said he is not cooperating with the murder investigation. A court clerk said court documents did not name his attorney.

Johnson's 911 call was dispatched through the Plant City Police Department. The agency did not return messages left by The Associated Press, but Capt. Darrell Wilson told The Tampa Tribune the department had sent a unit to find Johnson.

"We did what we could," he said. "It was a broken-up call."

Over the past three years, Johnson contacted police on several occasions to report domestic abuse. In 2005, she said Brown had threatened to kill her, according to records provided by the Tampa Police Department.

"He also hit me several times with the gun," Johnson wrote in a statement given to police. "I just wanna solve this matter by keeping him far away from me."

The following year, she told police he'd punched her while she was five months pregnant. The case was closed after she declined to pursue criminal charges.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456449,00.html

[Nut44x4]

Tampa Tribune (Florida)

November 25, 2008 Tuesday

Slaying Suspect In Prison On Probation Violation

Brown is sentenced to 13 months as his ex's death is investigated.

TAMPA - The man investigators are calling the prime suspect in the disappearance and slaying of Jennifer Denise Johnson was sentenced Monday to 13 months in prison for violating his probation on an unrelated drug charge.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Daniel Perry sentenced Vincent George Brown Jr., 38, after Brown admitted to failing to report to his probation officer July 2. Brown was Johnson's ex-boyfriend and the father of her daughter, Je'Neiyce, 2.

Johnson's body was found in a vacant house in Lakeland on Nov. 18, three days after she was reported missing by her relatives. Authorities are investigating whether Brown is connected to her death. He has not been charged in the slaying but police are calling him the prime suspect.

"We are still piecing together the timeline and what happened to Jennifer Johnson," said Laura McElroy, Tampa police spokeswoman.

Johnson and Brown were seen arguing at 11 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Apollo Club, police said. Authorities said today that Johnson and Brown went to his parent's house in Tampa at 3 a.m. Nov. 15.

Tampa police say Brown was thought to be driving Johnson's black, 1996 Infiniti I-30 in the Orlando and Altamonte Springs area early Nov. 15. They are asking anyone who saw him or Johnson's vehicle in those areas to call police at (813) 231-6130.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:890267667&start=9

[Wyks]

Slain Florida Mom Dialed 911 From Car Trunk
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. —  A young mother called 911 from the trunk of a car before she was found slain in an abandoned home, police said.

Investigators are now using the eerie recording as they try to piece together what happened to Jennifer Johnson, 31.

Law enforcement officials declined to discuss details of the call, but Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy called it "chilling and disturbing."

Johnson's family reported her missing a week ago when she failed to show up for a birthday party she'd planned for her 2-year-old daughter.

The night before, she was seen arguing with her ex-boyfriend at a Tampa nightclub, police said. The two were last seen at his parents' home around 3 a.m.

Four days later, police were called to an empty home in a quiet neighborhood in Lakeland, about 30 miles east of Tampa. A neighbor who had gone to check on the property looked through an open door and saw Johnson's body, said Jack Gillen, a spokesman with the Lakeland Police Department. He declined to say how Johnson died.

Investigators said her boyfriend, George Vincent Brown Jr., is a person of interest, but he has not been charged in her death. Brown turned himself in to police earlier this week and is being held without bond on a charge of violating his probation.

McElroy said he is not cooperating with the murder investigation. A court clerk said court documents did not name his attorney.

Johnson's 911 call was dispatched through the Plant City Police Department. The agency did not return messages left by The Associated Press, but Capt. Darrell Wilson told The Tampa Tribune the department had sent a unit to find Johnson.

"We did what we could," he said. "It was a broken-up call."

Over the past three years, Johnson contacted police on several occasions to report domestic abuse. In 2005, she said Brown had threatened to kill her, according to records provided by the Tampa Police Department.

"He also hit me several times with the gun," Johnson wrote in a statement given to police. "I just wanna solve this matter by keeping him far away from me."

The following year, she told police he'd punched her while she was five months pregnant. The case was closed after she declined to pursue criminal charges.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456449,00.html

(bolded by me)

I thought most states by now do not leave pressing charges up to the victim, but press charges themselves. 

Police and court systems across the USA and beyond really need to learn that victims of abuse are often too scared to, or are threatened not to press charges.  Even if they themself have called the police in the first place.  Many recant their story, take back the charges, because of the fear of retaliation by the abuser.  This has happened over and again, to the point where in many states, the decision to press charges is taken out of the hands of the victim. 

IMO, had the police gotten behind Jennifer back when she tried to tell them what had been going on, had pressed charges themselves and not dropped the case, Jennifer may still be alive today.  With the POS scum doing time for his earlier abuse. 

This kind of thing may just continue to happen until the world realizes that they must take this stuff seriously, and stop the abusers in their tracks.  Before they can continue on and abuse again and again, and one day kill their victim.  Sigh.
 

[Nut44x4]

Police failed to respond to murder victims 911 call
4/1/09

A chilling 9-1-1 call and a voice-mail answer message were both released along with 700 pages of discovery material outlining the murder and kidnapping case against Vincent Brown. Brown is accused of kidnapping and murdering the mother of his 2-year-old daughter, Jennifer Johnson. According to police, Johnson made a desperate 9-1-1 call to the Plant City Police Department last November 15 from the trunk of her car. Follow-up records show that no police units were sent out to investigate the call. Dispatch records indicate that they sent an officer to search for Johnson but it turned out to be for an unrelated call, Plant City Police Capt. Darrell Wilson said.

"Initially, we believed that an officer was sent, but we discovered that one was not," Wilson said. “That call log was for something different."

Reports say Johnson's phone did not have global-positioning system technology to help police pinpoint where she was. She did not provide police with a description of her car and could not say where she had been kidnapped, which put police at a disadvantage, Wilson said.

"We were kind of limited with the information we had," he said. "There wasn't much to go on."

Johnson's 9-1-1 call to Plant City police is hard to hear because of background music and other noises but Johnson tried to alert authorities of the gravity of her situation.

Johnson: I’m in the trunk right now. (Inaudible) took my car. They got me in the car. I don’t know where I’m at.
Operator: Where are you?
Johnson: I don’t know where I am. I’m in the trunk of my car. I’m in the car right now.
Operator: Where are you?
Johnson: I don’t see anything because I’m inside my trunk. They took my car and I’m inside of a trunk.
Operator: Okay. Stop screaming because I can’t understand you
Johnson: Okay. They just turned the music down.
Operator: Are you in the trunk of a vehicle?
Johnson: Yes.
Operator: Okay. Where did they pick you up at?
Johnson: Um, I don’t know where I’m at.
Operator: Where did you start out at? Did you start out somewhere in Plant City?

Then the call cuts off. The discovery documents show Plant City Police received two 9-1-1 calls Johnson placed from the trunk of her car about 5:30 a.m. November 15. The first was incomplete; the second lasted about 1 minute 20 seconds.

Johnson’s body was found in an abandoned house in Lakeland on November 19. The autopsy report says police found Johnson in the abandoned home with two thin, white plastic bags tied over her head and wearing only a black bra and short-sleeved white top. Hidden in her bra were a black Motorola cellular flip phone and $260 in cash. The medical examiner determined Johnson died of asphyxia.

Brown is jailed in Hillsborough County without bond on charges of first degree murder, felony kidnapping and possession of cocaine.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2911-Tampa-Top-News-Examiner~y2009m4d1-Police-failed-to-respond-to-murder-victims-911-call

[Nut44x4]

Name:         BROWN, VINCENT GEORGE 
DOB:          12/14/1969
Booking #:    09031136
Arrest Date:  06/04/2009
Race:         B
Sex:          M
Ethnicity:    N

http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/PublicInquiry/ArrestInquiry/ViewArrest?id=09031136&k1=8ce3144b8c7a65a&k2=MTQxNDQyNzU1Mw%3d%3d  
Personal Information  
Last Name First Name Middle Name Suffix Booking No.
BROWN   VINCENT   GEORGE      09031136  
Eyes Hair Build Current Age Height Weight SOID SOID Name
BRO   BLK   LAR   41   5'10   257   00311062   BROWN,GEORGE VINCENT  
Race Sex Ethn POB DOB Arrest Age SSN
B   M   N   FL   12/14/1969   39   ###-##-####  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address  
Street Address City State Zip
3221 CAYUGA ST E    TAMPA   FL   33610  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aliases  
Aliases Date OF Birth Social Security Number
BIG BUD  12/14/1969  ###-##-####  
BROWN,VINCENT G  12/14/1969  ###-##-####  
BROWN,VINCENT G  12/16/1970  ###-##-####  
BROWN,VINCENT GEORGE  12/14/1969  ###-##-####  
BROWN,VINCENT GEORGE JR  12/14/1960  ###-##-####  
BROWN,VINCENT GEORGE JR  12/14/1969  ###-##-####  
BROWN,VINCENT GEORGE JR  12/16/1960  ###-##-####  
BROWN,VINCENT GERORE JR  12/14/1969  ###-##-####  
BUD  12/14/1969  ###-##-####  
THOMAS,KEVIN D  12/14/1960  ###-##-####  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arrest Information  
Arrest Agency Arrest Date Arrest Time Book Date Book Time
HCSO   06/04/2009   08:11   06/05/2009   00:49  
Arrest Location Jurisdiction
SANTA ROSA ANNEX /HOLMES CO   OJ  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Release Information  
Cell Location  Cell Last Classification Date & Time Property Location
##########   ##########   08/16/2011 10:54      

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional Information  
OBTS Caution Ind. Caution Remarks
2902116085        
Attorney Address Phone
ERIC KUSKE        
Next of Kin Address Relationship
##########   ####################   ##########  
Employer Occupation Address
        

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charges  
No. Charge Description Class Court DISP Bond BP Fine Custody Days Charge Count Charge Type
1   MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE   FC   31C   PENDING   $0.00   B      811  1   ORDER TO TRANSPORT  
Report # CT-Case # Date Agency OBTS Number Charge Code CRA Number
   0900282CF   06/05/2009   HCSO   2902116085   MURD1010      
Remark
(INVESTIGATION)SEE DORIS MARTIN    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. Charge Description Class Court DISP Bond BP Fine Custody Days Charge Count Charge Type
2   KIDNAPPING COMMIT FELONY   FP   31C   PENDING   $0.00   B      811  1   ORDER TO TRANSPORT  
Report # CT-Case # Date Agency OBTS Number Charge Code CRA Number
   0900282CF   06/05/2009   HCSO   2902116085   KIDN2000      
Remark
(INVESTIGATION) SEE DORIS MARTIN    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. Charge Description Class Court DISP Bond BP Fine Custody Days Charge Count Charge Type
3   POSSESSION OF COCAINE   F3   00   OTHER RELEASE   NBR   B      794  1   COURT ORDER  
Report # CT-Case # Date Agency OBTS Number Charge Code CRA Number
   T21157   06/22/2009   HCSO   2902116085   DRUG1101