On December 23, 2017, Tanya Elaine Johnson, a 34-year-old female, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to her upper torso in Rolla, Missouri. Emergency responders initially treated her at the scene before transporting her to Phelps County Regional Medical Center. Due to the severity of her injuries, she was subsequently airlifted to University Medical Center in Columbia, where she was pronounced dead later that evening.
An autopsy was performed shortly after the Christmas holiday to confirm the cause of death as the investigation by the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol began.
During the initial stages of the inquiry, law enforcement focused on Dallas Truman Hogue, a 26-year-old man who had been with Tanya at the time of the incident. Hogue reportedly drove her to the hospital himself rather than waiting for an ambulance. When questioned by detectives, he claimed that the shooting was accidental, stating that Tanya had shot herself. He further alleged that after dropping her off at the medical center, he returned to the residence on County Road 3520, where the pistol accidentally discharged a second time into the floor as he was handling it.
Investigators executed a search of the home and recovered a black Ruger. 22-caliber pistol, which matched the description of the weapon involved. On Christmas Eve, the day after the shooting, police arrested Hogue. While he was not immediately charged with homicide, he was taken into custody for unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. His admission that he handled the weapon, combined with his prior criminal record, provided the grounds for his detention while authorities continued to examine forensic evidence and the validity of his accident claim.
The case remained a source of pain for the community, with online memorials calling for justice in the years following the tragedy. However, the legal proceedings against the primary person of interest ultimately came to a permanent halt without a murder conviction. Dallas Hogue moved to Florida in the years after the shooting and passed away in November 2021 at the age of 30, likely closing the possibility of any further criminal prosecution related to Tanya's death.
