VA VA - Spc. Harry Johnson, 26, Colonial Heights, 23 Nov 1997

mysteriew

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However, one homicide, in particular, has puzzled police for the last eight years.
On the evening of Nov. 23, 1997, U.S. Army Spc. Harry L. Johnson was sitting down to dinner in the Colonial Court townhome he shared with his girlfriend. There was a knock at the door, and when Johnson opened it, an unknown gunman shot him dead.
Neighbors and Johnson's girlfriend told police they heard three or four gunshots and saw a mysterious man running from the area. He was dressed all in brown.
"That's basically what we have," said Lt. Jeff Faries of the Colonial Heights police. " We did forensics, we recovered shell casings, we interviewed parties the victim worked with and acquaintances."
"Everything we have obtained hasn't added up," Faries said. "We still don't have a main suspect."
"The victim is not from around here," Faries explained. "He's in the military, he's been to a lot of places. It just makes it that much tougher to discover things about him."
Investigators contacted friends, family and even ex-girlfriends of Johnson but were unable to pinpoint a potential murderer.
Witnesses in this case described the possible suspect as a husky African-American man, about 20 to 30 years old. He was about 6 feet tall and weighed between 240 and 260 pounds.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14840121&BRD=2271&PAG=461&dept_id=462946&rfi=6
 
Bumping. This case is now over 15 years old. Has anyone seen any updates?
 
I ran across this post for the first time today. The man that you speak of is my father. I was four when he was murdered. Where did you get this information? I've started looking into his case.
 
I ran across this post for the first time today. The man that you speak of is my father. I was four when he was murdered. Where did you get this information? I've started looking into his case.

Hi KJohnson, welcome here. Sorry to hear about your father.
Unfortunately, the link from zwire.com from 2005 in the first posting no longer works.

If you would like to add youself as an expert in a certain field or an insider to a case, please contact Admin.

My very first impression, when I read the little information that is available here, was that this could have been a case of mistaken identity.
 
I ran across this post for the first time today. The man that you speak of is my father. I was four when he was murdered. Where did you get this information? I've started looking into his case.

Things you can do and may or may not want to do.....

You could contact the police dept for that area and see if they have a cold case unit. If not ask if there is any detective you could talk to about your father's case.

As a family member you may be able to get a copy of the autopsy report.

Do you know the name of the woman who was there? Maybe she would talk to you.

Try checking with newspapers local to this area. They usually keep copies of their articles.
 
Can anybody find any old articles on this case?
 
Can anybody find any old articles on this case?

I gave it a quick try, but Harry L. Johnson is an all too common name :-(
Found a gravestone for a different Harry L Johnson who died around the same time in active service.

Also, I looked for the text of your first posting, assuming it comes from the link that no longer works, but that brought up nothing but your posting WS.
I know that it is policy at WS not to copy too much for copyright reasons, but ever so often, you find that older links no longer work. IMHO time is on the side of those who keep their own archive!



:websleuther:
 
I used to love Google because they kept links to old news stories in the news section. They did away with that and now they are no better than the other search sites.

Does anyone have a link to the paid news search sites that they would be willing to give her/him so maybe they can find the fathers old news articles?
 
I've contacted the police department and have been told to expect a phone call from one of the officers who worked on the case. I'm now working on requesting an autopsy report as well. Thank you to everyone who has been looking in to the case. I really appreciate it!

[modsnip]
 
a local public library or nearby university library might have the newspapers on microfiche or electronically stored.
 
Thankyou soldier for joining, do you know if the person was questioned, also was there a motive talked about?
 
Thankyou soldier for joining, do you know if the person was questioned, also was there a motive talked about?

I don't know if he was questioned. The motive steams from an altercation which occured in the club with a Soldier from his company a few days before the murder. That soldier Johnson got into it with was a leader of crips on fort lee. He felt that Johnson disrespected him and that led to him being murder. I have talked with at least 10 different people over the last 20 years and they all say the same thing.
Thankyou soldier for joining, do you know if the person was questioned, also was there a motive talked about?
 
I don't know if he was questioned. The motive steams from an altercation which occured in the club with a Soldier from his company a few days before the murder. That soldier Johnson got into it with was a leader of crips on fort lee. He felt that Johnson disrespected him and that led to him being murder. I have talked with at least 10 different people over the last 20 years and they all say the same thing.

I hope LE has that information, they could take another look into that person.

From the first post a witness account:

Witnesses in this case described the possible suspect as a husky African-American man, about 20 to 30 years old. He was about 6 feet tall and weighed between 240 and 260 pounds.

Does this account match the man your talking about?
 
No, the person I'm talking about was 5'8 about 140 -150 dark complexion bald head. But with his status as a crip I'm sure he could have influenced someone in his organization to murder. What kills me is CID should have investigated more even though if happened off post in colonial heights.
 
Sounds like it was put in the “too hard” basket...Have you done any searches to see if this man is still alive? I suspect no one will talk knowing the retaliation that can occur.
 

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