In the late summer of 1978, a sixteen-year-old boy named Randy Johnson disappeared from Newark, New Jersey, in a case that would remain a painful mystery for decades. Randy was last seen on August 20, 1978, with four of his friends: Michael McDowell, Melvin Pittman, Ernest Taylor, and Alvin Turner. The group of teenagers, who were all students at Weequahic High School except for Michael who had recently moved to East Orange, had spent part of the evening playing basketball at West Side Park.
Later that evening, they were reportedly seen getting into a pickup truck driven by a local carpenter named Lee Anthony Evans, who sometimes hired them for odd jobs. Evans later claimed he dropped the boys off at 11:00 p.m., but they were never heard from again. At the time of his disappearance, Randy was described as a Black male, 5'4' tall and weighing 145 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, black pants, and sneakers.
The initial investigation into the disappearance of the five boys, who came to be known as the 'Clinton Avenue Five,' was fraught with uncertainty. While police initially considered the possibility that the teenagers had run away, their families insisted this was out of character. A perplexing phone call made to one of the mothers a few days after the disappearances, in which an unknown individual offered information about the boys' whereabouts for $750, added to the mystery but ultimately led to a dead end. For years, the families of Randy Johnson and his friends were left with no answers, a void of information that allowed for little closure. The Social Security numbers of the missing teens were never used, and none of them ever applied for a driver's license in any state, deepening the fears of their loved ones.
Decades later, a significant breakthrough in the cold case brought long-awaited, though devastating, answers. In March 2010, Lee Anthony Evans and another man, Philander Hampton, were charged with five counts of murder and arson in connection with the disappearances. A third suspect, Maurice Woody-Olds, had died in 2008. Authorities believe that the motive for the killings was the belief that the teenagers had stolen marijuana from one of the men. The investigation revealed a horrific sequence of events, alleging that the boys were taken to an unoccupied house, restrained at gunpoint, and then the house was set on fire, leading to their deaths. Though the remains of the 'Clinton Avenue Five' have not been located, the arrests marked a turning point in a case that had haunted the community for over three decades. The case of Randy Johnson and his four friends is a tragic story of young lives cut short and a community left to grapple with a profound loss that was compounded by the long and painful wait for justice.Last Seen: Aug 20, 1978
