Virginia Johannessen, a 76-year-old widow, was found shot to death in her home on Felton Road in Aurora, Illinois, on January 5, 1993. Her brother, Francis Reines, discovered her body after being unable to reach her by phone. Virginia was sitting in her living room with visible injuries, and the police determined she had been shot in the head. A hammer was also found at the scene, and her car was discovered abandoned nearby.
Initially, three men—Michael Turner, Cory O. Jenkins, and Lester D. Salter—were charged with Virginia's murder in 1994. However, they were acquitted after a nine-day trial when the state could not prove their involvement. In 1995, Lionel Lane was convicted of the murder, but his conviction was overturned in 1996 when Edward Tenney and Donald Lippert confessed to the crime while being convicted of another murder.
Edward Tenney was eventually convicted of Virginia Johannessen's murder in 2007, but his conviction was overturned due to a legal error. A retrial in 2002 resulted in another guilty verdict, and Tenney was sentenced to life in prison. Donald Lippert received a 60-year prison sentence.
The case was featured on Investigation Discovery's "Dead of Winter: The Widows of War," highlighting the brutal murders and the eventual capture of the perpetrators.
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