MS - Jessica Johnson, 37, found hanged, Horn Lake, 2 June 2017

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theirmommy

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"The mail carrier found her, legs curled under her, hanging from a mailbox by shoestrings that had been fashioned into a noose.

The coroner estimates that Jessica Re’nee Johnson, 37, hung there for several hours before she was found on June 2. The preliminary cause of death is ligature strangulation, and authorities in Horn Lake, Mississippi, suspect it was a suicide."

Horn Lake police Capt. Nikki Lanphere told HuffPost that suicide is the preliminary classification, pending a final report by the medical examiner, which Lanphere said would be available in four to six months.

To Johnson’s friends and family, it’s an absurd theory ― one on which valuable time is being wasted.

“I know my daughter, and there is no way possible this is a suicide,” her mother, Linda Appleton Johnson, told HuffPost. “This was murder.”

Leigh Ann Moreno said there was no indication that her friend, whom she describes as a doting mother of two, was suicidal.

“She would not take her own life,” Moreno said. “She loved life, and she loved to make people laugh. Everyone adored her, and I want [her children] to know she would never have done this.”
.....
Linda Johnson says her daughter struggled with drug addiction and sometimes hung out with the wrong crowd. If it weren’t for Jessica’s past, she believes authorities would be taking the case more seriously.

“It’s easier for them to write her off as a suicide", she said.
Continue reading here:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_596f4821e4b0000eb19742ae
Also here:
http://m.wmctv.com/wmctv/db_401748/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=udQJe21M
 
What a sickening story! The photo of her at the mailbox looks so staged. How could any law enforcement officer look at it and call it suicide?

From the picture, she was too close to the ground to hang herself.

I hope her parents get answers and get to the bottom of this. It is sad enough for their daughter to die, but to get a suspicious cause of death is heartbreaking.
 
First comment here! I have been reading the site for a while, and came here today specifically to see if this case had been mentioned. It's relatively close to me, and I just do not for one second buy suicide. It absolutely looks staged, and I'm not even sure a grown adult could hang themselves with shoelaces tied to a mailbox? That aside, her boyfriend is wanted in my state (TN, we're very close to the part of MS she died in) for a domestic violence charge, and then there's this:

Linda Johnson also claims she’s been in contact with the family of another Horn Lake woman who died under suspicious circumstances last year. That woman was also known to hang out with Jessica’s boyfriend, Linda said.
Click to expand...

I'm going to be really scoping out info on this case. It's the first time I've really felt strongly that LE aren't giving it the attention it deserves.
 
theirmommy said:
"The mail carrier found her, legs curled under her, hanging from a mailbox by shoestrings that had been fashioned into a noose.

The coroner estimates that Jessica Re’nee Johnson, 37, hung there for several hours before she was found on June 2. The preliminary cause of death is ligature strangulation, and authorities in Horn Lake, Mississippi, suspect it was a suicide."

Horn Lake police Capt. Nikki Lanphere told HuffPost that suicide is the preliminary classification, pending a final report by the medical examiner, which Lanphere said would be available in four to six months.

To Johnson’s friends and family, it’s an absurd theory ― one on which valuable time is being wasted.

“I know my daughter, and there is no way possible this is a suicide,” her mother, Linda Appleton Johnson, told HuffPost. “This was murder.”

Leigh Ann Moreno said there was no indication that her friend, whom she describes as a doting mother of two, was suicidal.

“She would not take her own life,” Moreno said. “She loved life, and she loved to make people laugh. Everyone adored her, and I want [her children] to know she would never have done this.”
.....
Linda Johnson says her daughter struggled with drug addiction and sometimes hung out with the wrong crowd. If it weren’t for Jessica’s past, she believes authorities would be taking the case more seriously.

“It’s easier for them to write her off as a suicide", she said.
Continue reading here:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_596f4821e4b0000eb19742ae
Also here:
http://m.wmctv.com/wmctv/db_401748/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=udQJe21M
Click to expand...

OMG WTF. Even without the findings below, it is incredibly bizarre that she would commit suicide on someone's front lawn under their mailbox. What?! Plus isn't it true that when someone is dying their body instinctively fights back and she wouldn't be able to "hang"?

“There is what appears to be a footprint indented in her arm,” Moreno said.

“There are also marks on her wrists and arms,” Linda Johnson added. “It looks like she might have been bound and possibly injected with something.”
Click to expand...

How on earth could they say it was a suicide?
 
I can't find the boyfriends name in any article. Makes me mad. And even more mad that the detectives aren't giving it much attention.
 
ur_in_a_cult said:
First comment here! I have been reading the site for a while, and came here today specifically to see if this case had been mentioned. It's relatively close to me, and I just do not for one second buy suicide. It absolutely looks staged, and I'm not even sure a grown adult could hang themselves with shoelaces tied to a mailbox? That aside, her boyfriend is wanted in my state (TN, we're very close to the part of MS she died in) for a domestic violence charge, and then there's this:



I'm going to be really scoping out info on this case. It's the first time I've really felt strongly that LE aren't giving it the attention it deserves.
Click to expand...
Welcome to your first post on websleuths!!! Thanks for commenting!!!
 
Following for Jessica...

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk
 
Wow, she looks totally posed to me. Of all the places and objects to use to strangle oneself, that mailbox wouldn't even be on my list... Secured shower rod, clothing closest rod, heck even a staircase rod, would seem like a better choice. I do know someone who hung himself in a closet using a clothing rod which was shorter than he needed to actually dangle so he apparently held his feet up until he passed out, then died. And I knew someone else who accidentally strangled themselves during auto erotic asphyxiation, with a belt tied to the doorknob and I guess he'd like, push the door with his feet to add tension and this time wasn't able to time it and died.

But I can't imagine either of them looked so... Posed and tidy and not like they'd struggled. She doesn't look to me like she struggled at all... Her shirt is all pulled down and not askew, like, she doesn't even look dead she looks like she's posing for a creepy prank photo. She's "hanging" off the side and there looks like there's still some slack in the strings.

In my imagination she'd be much more slumped if this was suicide.

Did they even do a tox screen? This is definitely hinky and shouldn't have just been ruled as suicide so quickly, IMO. I'm very interested to hear more.

My initial feeling, though, is murdered somewhere else by two or more people, then placed and posed there sometime soon afterward. Was it her mailbox? I need to go re-read.
 
Could this be staged to cover up an overdose? Her supplier trying to avoid legal repercussions for an accidental overdose?
 
I think the whole thing is sketchy too - of all the ways to kill yourself, why would you CHOOSE this? However, I saw the photos and the photo of her arm where her mother thinks it's a shoe print. I thought that at first, but looking more closely I actually think that it's from the wooden mailbox post. In the photo, one arm isn't fully visible - it's kind of behind her and it looks like that arm might be pressed against the mailbox because she's leaning on it? Maybe?
 
Wow
Very strange
Seems to be marks (lines) on both arms near her wrists
Very very sad
 
. Authorities have not indicated that Jessica’s death is connected to any other deaths, and her boyfriend has not been called a suspect or person of interest in either case. According to authorities in Tennessee, there is an active warrant for his arrest in that state in an unrelated domestic violence case.
Click to expand...
For now, Linda Johnson and Moreno must pin their hopes on the possibility that a new lead will surface, or that Godwin will uncover something that police will be unable to ignore ― if not for them, then for Jessica’s two children, a 19-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter.
Click to expand...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...ging-from-mailbox_us_596f4821e4b0000eb19742ae
 
This is bizarre that LE has initially called this a suicide. There are much easier ways to kill yourself. I looked for a story from last year regarding the other woman who died but didn't find it. There's a lot of bad stuff going on in that area. I will continue to look. Wonder if its drug related since I personally don't see the suicide point of view? IMO

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk
 
The family is using Maurice Godwin to look into this further. That's the same Godwin that was on the Tara Grinstead case for so long -- he's often featured on the Up And Vanished podcast.
 
Unfortunately, an injection site isn't remarkable in and of itself as family and friends have indicated she struggled with drug addiction. Even more unfortunately, that opens up a lot of potential suspects in a murder which probably explains why the police want to just write it off.
 
We have a terrible heroin epidemic in this area. A friend of mine looked over Jessica's Facebook, and said that all their mutual friends are into the heroin scene, or have partners in the scene. I think it's entirely possible this was an accidental overdose that was then posed to look like suicide, but I'm not okay with LE not even waiting for the tox reports to come back before ruling it a suicide. I know small town Southern cops around here all too well -- there are some really excellent individuals on the force, but there are also a whole lot of good old boys who don't know much more than speed traps and breaking up bar fights. I completely understand why Jessica's family would want more information.
 
kchoney said:
I really wish we could get more info on this boyfriend!!

"Linda Johnson also claims she’s been in contact with the family of another Horn Lake woman who died under suspicious circumstances last year. That woman was also known to hang out with Jessica’s boyfriend, Linda said."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mississippi-woman-found-hanging-from-mailbox_us_596f4821e4b0000eb19742ae
Click to expand...
Yep...me too. Thought I could get there through info on the other woman story but can't find a name.

Sent from my VK815 using Tapatalk
 
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