Barbara “Barbie” Jean Dedert, 41, a white woman from Milton, Florida, died on August 1, 2025. Born in 1983 and raised in a close-knit family, she was remembered in local obituaries for her roots in Texas and for being a mother of four, with loved ones noting the bonds that defined her life long before the headlines.
That Friday night around 9 p.m., deputies with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office were called to a home on Pinto Avenue in Milton, where they found Dedert fatally
shot. The residence was identified on Pinto Avenue in the Milton area, and investigators secured the scene and opened a homicide inquiry.
Detectives quickly focused on Curtis Marvin Johnson, 47, an Okaloosa County corrections officer who lived at the home. He was arrested the next night and booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail on a charge of second-degree murder. According to reports summarizing the arrest affidavit, Johnson initially tried to claim self-defense and even called in the shooting as a suicide, but investigators cited physical evidence—including multiple shell casings and six gunshot wounds—that conflicted with his account. Johnson, who was subsequently fired from his job, has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities publicly identified Dedert as the victim and documented the address of the incident on 6570 Pinto Avenue. The case was logged by gun-violence trackers and covered by regional outlets as the legal process began moving through the courts. As of the latest reports, Johnson remains the sole suspect publicly named in connection with Dedert's death.
