IA IA - Kenny Johnson, 14, Dubuque, 10 Oct 1987

[SeeMamaRun]

What a handsome young man. Such a sad story

I do not know of any other cases in Iowa like this but that doesn't mean they don't exist!

Here's a map of the area: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=maus...2,0.021136&hq=maus+park+dubuque+iowa&t=h&z=16

I wonder what that park looked like in 1987?

 

[Wondergirl]

The slight bit of alcohol in the system is the biggest clue to me, that poor Kenny likely went willingly with someone he knew or felt comfortable with.

Where was the carpet found in the park by the murderer?

So horribly sad.

Rest in Peace, Kenny

 

[SCHMAE]

I would like to ask if there were any men in the mother’s life at the time of Kenny's death. Is it possible he made it back to the area he was from? It's common for a pedophile to watch movies and drink with their victims before killing them. I guess it just makes me feel like he was with someone he knew... at least felt like he knew.

Sad for his family. I hope they find who is responsible soon.

I don't have the map in front of me but I looked the other day. It was quite a distance from where mom lived to the home he was staying in. Not impossibly far but someone would have to give him a ride. BBM I will have to go back and read up some more. I missed anything about him watching a movie or drinking.

 

[Wondergirl]

Video here says:

-Kenny was beaten severely

-Kenny was a Tom Sawyer type of boy. Liked to climb trees, could get out of any forest.

-100's of leads

-DNA put into CODIS. No matches.

http://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/kenny-joe-johnson/

 

[Wondergirl]

I wonder if Tommy Lynn Sells ever provided a DNA sample?
He Committed a murder about a month after KJJ was found. The Dardeen Family~ in Ida, Illinois (11/18/1987)
Knowing him to be a drifter/train hopper/traveler at random with the carnival; as well as a victim of sexual abuse, I would say that he's high on my suspect list. Not only for KJJ, but the two other boys' abductions as well.
Here is a link that I believe supports my theory:

http://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sells-tommy-lynn.htm

what do you guys think?

That beast committed vile and horrific acts on humans, I am horrified, omg.

Was there a carnival in town at the time of Kenny's murder?

 

[danzn16]

The slight bit of alcohol in the system is the biggest clue to me, that poor Kenny likely went willingly with someone he knew or felt comfortable with.

Where was the carpet found in the park by the murderer?

So horribly sad.

Rest in Peace, Kenny

I agree. The alcohol seems to show someone tried to befriend him or it was someone he knew.


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[jenstar]

That beast committed vile and horrific acts on humans, I am horrified, omg.

Was there a carnival in town at the time of Kenny's murder?

I know and he was random about it too! It didn't matter WHO it was. Children seemed to have set him off though.
About the carnival; I don't even know where to start finding that out.

 

[jenstar]

I agree. The alcohol seems to show someone tried to befriend him or it was someone he knew.


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That's another thing with Tommy Sells,
He confessed to being a huge drinker and druggie. I wouldn't doubt if he happened upon KJJ and offered him a beer at some point and then took advantage of the situation. JMO

 

[Marksgirljess]

I know and he was random about it too! It didn't matter WHO it was. Children seemed to have set him off though.
About the carnival; I don't even know where to start finding that out.

Generally, carnivals and fairs are held here in the summer. Because Kenny Joe died in October, I would assume it was unlikely, but not impossible.

 

[Lilachaze]

The slight bit of alcohol in the system is the biggest clue to me, that poor Kenny likely went willingly with someone he knew or felt comfortable with.

I agree with you the fact he had a small amount of alcohol in his system sounds to me he felt comfortable around.
I hope they find who’s responsible soon.

 

[STANDREID]

I wonder if Tommy Lynn Sells ever provided a DNA sample?
He Committed a murder about a month after KJJ was found. The Dardeen Family~ in Ida, Illinois (11/18/1987)
Knowing him to be a drifter/train hopper/traveler at random with the carnival; as well as a victim of sexual abuse, I would say that he's high on my suspect list. Not only for KJJ, but the two other boys' abductions as well.
Here is a link that I believe supports my theory:

http://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sells-tommy-lynn.htm

what do you guys think?

My mom knew Ruby Dardeen's mother and not all the family think that Sells actually committed this massacre (and there is no conviction). They consider him more of a publicity seeker like Henry Lee Lucas.

 

[KariKae]

The carpet has me intrigued too. Either someone illegally dumped the carpet and decided to come forward after all these years, or the carpet owner was involved and came forward to cover his tracks. But how often to you happen upon a roll of carpet just right for disposing of a body?

Does your fiance have any information on where Kenny Joe went on his previous run-away attempts? I wonder if he ran back to a person he met on a previous run-away attempt and this person gave him a place to stay? I am leaning toward this person being older. He either provided a place for Kenny Joe to stay or helped him find shelter in a vacant building or something. He may have been old enough to purchase alcohol. He also most likely had access to a vehicle to transport the body to its disposal site. It's also possible the other kids in the shelter gave him direction on where to go on a runaway attempt. I wonder how thoroughly they were interviewed.

I agree that Kenny Joe was kicking back and having a beer before he was attacked.

It really surprises me this person has not offended again.

 

[chinacat67]

The carpet has me intrigued too. Either someone illegally dumped the carpet and decided to come forward after all these years, or the carpet owner was involved and came forward to cover his tracks. But how often to you happen upon a roll of carpet just right for disposing of a body?

Does your fiance have any information on where Kenny Joe went on his previous run-away attempts? I wonder if he ran back to a person he met on a previous run-away attempt and this person gave him a place to stay? I am leaning toward this person being older. He either provided a place for Kenny Joe to stay or helped him find shelter in a vacant building or something. He may have been old enough to purchase alcohol. He also most likely had access to a vehicle to transport the body to its disposal site. It's also possible the other kids in the shelter gave him direction on where to go on a runaway attempt. I wonder how thoroughly they were interviewed.

I agree that Kenny Joe was kicking back and having a beer before he was attacked.

It really surprises me this person has not offended again.

He could have offended again and just not have been caught still/yet.....

 

[Marksgirljess]

The carpet has me intrigued too. Either someone illegally dumped the carpet and decided to come forward after all these years, or the carpet owner was involved and came forward to cover his tracks. But how often to you happen upon a roll of carpet just right for disposing of a body?

Does your fiance have any information on where Kenny Joe went on his previous run-away attempts? I wonder if he ran back to a person he met on a previous run-away attempt and this person gave him a place to stay? I am leaning toward this person being older. He either provided a place for Kenny Joe to stay or helped him find shelter in a vacant building or something. He may have been old enough to purchase alcohol. He also most likely had access to a vehicle to transport the body to its disposal site. It's also possible the other kids in the shelter gave him direction on where to go on a runaway attempt. I wonder how thoroughly they were interviewed.

I agree that Kenny Joe was kicking back and having a beer before he was attacked.

It really surprises me this person has not offended again.

I am not sure, I will ask him.


Can someone clue me in on how CODIS works? Since the DNA has been run through and there was no match, does it stay there waiting for a match, or do you have to physically run it again every so often to see if it flags something?

 

[jenstar]

Being a 5x9 roll of carpet I'd say (moo) that the vehicle was most likely a pickup or a van. I don't think I could fit a 5 ft wide roll across my passenger seat comfortably, esp with a person inside. Like I said MOO

 

[jenstar]

I am not sure, I will ask him.


Can someone clue me in on how CODIS works? Since the DNA has been run through and there was no match, does it stay there waiting for a match, or do you have to physically run it again every so often to see if it flags something?

I looked at three articles on CODIS and all it says is that it's a DNA database for Offenders. It doesn't say that the DNA from Cases are stored in there as well. An interesting quote from here says that there is ALOT of DNA to be processed still; and the DNA samples from crime scenes are in abundance. (My own paraphrasing) So, I'd say it's highly unlikely that any "crime scene DNA" is stored as well. (Correct me if I'm Wrong/ MOO?)

Meaning that it will have to be re ran every once in awhile to see if the crime can be matched to an offender.

Here's a snippet under "Does the DNA database help Solve Crimes"

Rather, the U.S. currently has an enormous backlog of samples waiting to be typed and entered into the database. Some of these samples are from cases that have outlasted their statutes of limitation, so even if these samples could help solve a crime, the crime can no longer be tried.

"This delay brings up the dilemma of the validity of statutes of limitation. These statutes were established at a time when large quantities of physical evidence were required to match a suspect to a sample and when extended time periods significantly decreased law enforcement's ability to find a match, as well as the likelihood of successful prosecution. With the advent of DNA databanks and the possibility of storing samples indefinitely, the very notion of a statute of limitation now seems extremely outdated."

link :http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/forensics-dna-fingerprinting-and-codis-736

Sorry for the long post.

 

[time]

We watched a show on a case last night on the murder of Susan Verstegen. They found her murderer after 8-10 years when his DNA showed up in the database. The killer, Rodrigo Hernandez, had been in prison for 3.5 years and only took his DNA in Michigan as a condition for parole. Not sure waiting to take DNA upon leaving is standard practice anymore, but if it is, someone could be locked up already and their DNA would not show until they were released?

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Man-is-executed-for-S-A-murder-2737817.php

Verstegen's slaying was a cold case until 2002, when a DNA sample Hernandez provided as a condition of his parole for an assault in Grand Rapids, Mich., matched evidence collected in the San Antonio killing.

 

[Marksgirljess]

Being a 5x9 roll of carpet I'd say (moo) that the vehicle was most likely a pickup or a van. I don't think I could fit a 5 ft wide roll across my passenger seat comfortably, esp with a person inside. Like I said MOO

Its been stated that the carpet was found at the park. Im skeptical...sounds very convenient.


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[jenstar]

I wish I knew more about where the carpet came from before it was "at the park". It stated in the article that someone came forward and claimed it. So..does that mean we put all our old carpets in the park? Or maybe a bum went garbage picking and took it there? I agree. Very convenient that the carpet was just "at the park" where kenny spent his last moments.
If I were a killer, and didn't posess a carpet from get go; I wouldn't go looking for something to hide a body in. Especially if I just wanted to dump it and get out of there.
JMHO

 

[LR1]

Although they think the killer is local I wouldn't rule out the possibility of the perp being a transient, Jenstar touched on it earlier with the tommy sells post. Looking at that little bit of a train yard adjacent to the site the boy was found it looks like an easy place to catch out from. There are places around rail yards all over the country where hobo's and the like might use as they pass through.

This is not a slight against the hobo/transient lifestyle just a simple observation, they're for the most part a harmless portion of society that choose to live that way, and although their numbers are dwindling as far as freight riders go back in 87 I could see hundreds passing by that very spot yearly. If the carpet was left years earlier I can easily see it being used as a mat or covering of some kind in a small stealth campsite which the local authorities would more than likely be aware of.

I can also see the boy making his way to the park after running away, its less than 3 miles from the school.