IL - Attorneys Thomas Johnson & wife Leslie Jones, found stabbed to death, Chicago, 15 Apr 2020

[roguelady]

Here's an update published today in the Chicago Tribune. Not much new information, except a few more details about the cause of death - very brutal. Still no suspects.

New details emerge in killings of prominent Oak Park attorney couple found stabbed to death in their home

 

[Sheila Terranova]

Here's an update published today in the Chicago Tribune. Not much new information, except a few more details about the cause of death - very brutal. Still no suspects.

New details emerge in killings of prominent Oak Park attorney couple found stabbed to death in their home

I cannot open. Is there anything new please? Does anyone have an obit? Thank you.

 

[IceIce9]

Here's an update published today in the Chicago Tribune. Not much new information, except a few more details about the cause of death - very brutal. Still no suspects.

New details emerge in killings of prominent Oak Park attorney couple found stabbed to death in their home

This is interesting, wonder if someone was upset about it:

Johnson was particularly well-known for his work as a hearing officer for the Chicago Police Board. Last year, he oversaw the hearings for four officers accused of covering up the investigation into the 2014 Laquan McDonald shooting. He presided over the hearing of an officer who shot and killed 55-year-old Bettie Jones and 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier during a confrontation with LeGrier in 2016.

 

[MissUnderstood]

Here's an update published today in the Chicago Tribune. Not much new information, except a few more details about the cause of death - very brutal. Still no suspects.

New details emerge in killings of prominent Oak Park attorney couple found stabbed to death in their home

Seems quite personal. Nothing stolen, wallet left and stabbed in the face!! Moo

 

[BeckyF]

Here's an update published today in the Chicago Tribune. Not much new information, except a few more details about the cause of death - very brutal. Still no suspects.

New details emerge in killings of prominent Oak Park attorney couple found stabbed to death in their home

Thanks for posting this. There are a few details about the crime scene but not much else.

 

[BeckyF]

Seems quite personal. Nothing stolen, wallet left and stabbed in the face!! Moo

It does seem very personal. I hope LE knows more than they are revealing.

 

[Cryptic]

I wonder if the murders were in retaliation for a police officer being charged with a crime due to the husband serving as a Chicago Police Board hearing officer.

It does seem very personal. I hope LE knows more than they are revealing.

I wonder if either victim ever served on an ethics board for the Illinois Bar?

Similar to the police board, Bar disciplinary actions appear to be heard by panels- and like police board hearings, negative decisions can have a huge impact on the person under review.

Likewise, I wonder if either victim had initiated a complaint against an attorney that eventually led to disbarment? Attorneys under disciplinary investigations are allowed to "face their accuser" so to speak via being given a copy of the complaint.

Even if the possible complaint was filed by a former client of the attorney under review, the subject of the review may conclude that say, the former client's new attorney is the impetus behind the bar complaint as it is far more sophisticated than the client.

 

[Andieinsyd]

I wonder why they were both killed? Seems to me that someone was enraged to kill two people like that. If it (the motive) were to do with revenge for his (Thomas’s) work why also murder her (Leslie) so violently?

 

[Cryptic]

I wonder why they were both killed? Seems to me that someone was enraged to kill two people like that. If it (the motive) were to do with revenge for his (Thomas’s) work why also murder her (Leslie) so violently?

I agree, the stabbing of both victims implies a great deal of personal animosity against both victims. This would seem to detract from a rage motive resulting from say, the professional career of one of the victims.

At the same time, rage can be transferred over. Take for example, the case of Kaufman County prosecutor murders. An escalating series of "Got you- Ok, well, now I got you" political / professional confrontations led to the disbarment of one of the parties and revenge murders. The murderer killed not only the target of his rage, but also the target's wife.
The Killings in Kaufman

 

[Yemelyan]

My opinion based on what is currently known (which isn't much) is that someone they came into contact with through their charitable works could be responsible for this.

 

[JosieMae]

My opinion based on what is currently known (which isn't much) is that someone they came into contact with through their charitable works could be responsible for this.

Agree. This was someone the couple tried to help. Similar to the Dr. Beth Potter and husband murder. MOO.

 

[Manwel]

Here's an update published today in the Chicago Tribune. Not much new information, except a few more details about the cause of death - very brutal. Still no suspects.

New details emerge in killings of prominent Oak Park attorney couple found stabbed to death in their home

Key points from the article:

• "On April 13, the family members, who do not live in the area, asked Jones and Johnson’s 20-year-old godson, who does live in the area, to visit their home in the 500 block of Fair Oaks Avenue for a well-being check, the report said. The godson found the front door closed, but unlocked, and he went inside at about 7:30 p.m."
  
• "Just inside the front door, the godson discovered Jones' body lying on the stairs, while Johnson was found in an upstairs bedroom lying on a bed, the report said."
• "The detective did report the home did not appear to be ransacked, and said Johnson’s wallet was found on the bedroom floor with its contents scattered."
• "First responders also located the couple’s dog alive in the home, and paw prints from the dog and footprints from a person were “visible in the residence,” the report said."
• "The report states Johnson was stabbed multiple times in the head, neck and shoulder area, while Jones was stabbed multiple times in the head, chest, shoulder and arms. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death for both as “multiple sharp force injuries,” ruling both deaths homicides."

My read into some of those details is that they were attacked at night/morning while still asleep. I suspect the husband was the target in that he seems to have been first attacked—he did not have wounds on arms or in the chest like the wife, who was found on the stairs by the front door. The location of the blows for the husband sounds like someone standing over him in his bed. My guess of events is that the wife ran from the room but the killer caught up to her and that's why she also had arm wounds, probably trying to protect from the blows, and chest wounds, which the husband didn't have. The fact that the husband's wallet was targeted and "scattered" makes it seem like they were looking for something. The fact that the front door was unlocked makes me wonder if who did it just walked right out the front door. So then the question is, which neighbor's doorbell video camera caught the person leaving? Hopefully they got someone on video!

The next question I have is did they know their attacker? Was the attacker already inside the house with them and that would explain potentially being killed while in bed? Or did the attacker come in through a window or other entrance? The front door if it had been left unlocked? Again, I hope they have video to explain the events leading up to that night.

I have to resoundingly agree with everyone here, this was a vicious, personal attack fueled by rage. It has to be someone they at least know or are connected to that would have had a grudge or pure hatred. I hope the police have leads.

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

Chicagoans offer $5K reward to solve Oak Park double murder

Two Chicago men announced they are offering a monetary reward to anyone with information into the murders of Oak Park husband and wife Tom Johnson and Leslie Ann Jones, two prominent attorneys whose deaths shocked family, friends and colleagues in Chicago and Oak Park.

During an Oct. 9 press conference held near the couple's Fair Oaks Avenue home, Frank Coconate and Raul Montes Jr. announced they will give $5,000 to anyone with information leading to the conviction of the person or people responsible for the murders.

Coconate described himself as a political watchdog. Montes, who made an unsuccessful bid for alderman of Chicago's 22nd Ward in 2015, referred to himself as a civic activist.

 

[oviedo]

I take it the house didn't have cameras and the neighbors did not either? This brutal killing still shocks me.
JMO

 

[CliffyTruxton]

Here's an update published today in the Chicago Tribune. Not much new information, except a few more details about the cause of death - very brutal. Still no suspects.

New details emerge in killings of prominent Oak Park attorney couple found stabbed to death in their home

This article mentions a file with an autopsy and police report from the scene. I've seen a few others on the same subject saying the file came through a FOIA request to the Cook County sheriff's office. Is there any place a person could read the whole thing, or would I have to file a FOIA request with the sheriff's office?

The article says footprints were found. This article says the same thing, and they give the sense the footprints belong to the offender. It also has some information the Tribune article doesn't (Johnson was stabbed nearly 20 times and suffered blunt force trauma to the head, while Jones was stabbed 34 times).

The wording of both articles raises a question that would be helpful in understanding more about what happened here: Footprints, or shoe prints? I'm guessing the full report would specify. If anyone has a link to that report (PM is fine if you don't want to make it public), that would be great. Otherwise I'll try my luck with a FOIA request.

 

[Razz]

The article said the door was not open but it was unlocked. Maybe someone came to the door and the wife went downstairs to answer the doorbell or knock. It doesn't sound like the door was kicked in so was it someone she knew? I feel like she was killed first and then the husband. Whoever it was then proceeded upstairs and whacked the husband while he was sleeping. That's how I imagine it anyway.

Would you leave a door unlocked in the Chicago area? No way no how.

It didn't say whether the godson went upstairs and discovered his godfather.
Had it been me, I would have been out of there like a lightening bolt. I'd be interested in knowing that, however.

My heart sank a bit when they mentioned the godson and his age.
Hopefully nothing more than he had the misfortune of discovering the crime.

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

‘Anger and Rage:' Search for Answers Continues in Brutal Slaying of Oak Park Attorneys
........
Oak Park Police declined to talk to NBC 5 Investigates about any aspect of the unsolved case citing their ongoing investigation, but in a Feb. 2 video statement, Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds said that despite no answers found after nine months, “I can personally assure you that the investigation of this shocking and brutal crime has not stalled or slowed in any way.”
........
NBC 5 Investigates spent months reviewing the autopsy reports, the legal work the couple was involved in and talked to friends and family. We shared our reporting with veteran homicide detective Richard Schak who retired after 30 years of working Chicago homicide. He is now the chair of the Criminal Justice program at National Lewis University.

"I don’t think this was random because of the overkill," said Schak. "I think somebody planned it and had something against them. Mr. Johnson was a late-night guy. People would know that by casing the place and determine when people would be in bed."
.......
“I’m looking for enemies," said Schak. "I’m looking for anybody that would want to do that much damage to somebody."
........
“When you see an attack that violent with a knife, it’s easy for the offender to be injured himself," Schak said, adding that it would not surprise him if the offender left DNA at the crime scene. "It is likely the killer left his DNA. Unless the offender wore protective clothing or gloves."

After eliminating friends and family, Schak said detectives would run any unidentified samples of DNA through all existing data banks of known offenders.

In reviewing the case, Schak said that investigators have undoubtedly looked for disgruntled legal clients at Johnson's job as a hearing officer at the Chicago Police Board handling hundreds of complaints against officers since 1991. Johnson presided over police misconduct cases in which officers lost their jobs and pensions, and some of the couple’s friends and family have wondered if the suspect could be a police officer.

“Certainly you would look at that," said Schak, but added, "I personally don’t think it was law enforcement. If law enforcement was involved, I think it would be quicker and cleaner. They’re going to do it and get out."
.......
The house has been sold but no one on Fair Oaks Avenue will forget what happened or the couple who gave so much to so many.

 

[Russian Blue]

This week is the one year anniversary.

 

[Laughing]

This week is the one year anniversary.

 

[Number8]

One year later, murders of prominent Oak Park attorneys remain unsolved: ‘Their loss is immeasurable’

“Those close to the family worry that the person (or people) responsible for the murders has yet to be identified, and expressed frustrations at the perceived lack of progress being made in the case.”
...
““We’re working through that case every day,” Reynolds said. “It’s a meticulous process and the detectives are hard at work. We continue to engage with the family and we’re working very hard.”

Very strange case and I’m surprised it gets so little press and attention. Prominent community members, insane overkill, bloody footprints, one of the victims oversaw police misconduct hearings... there are so many strange aspects and clues. JMO.