In the early morning hours of June 23, 2023, the quiet of Hampton, Georgia, was broken by a sequence of events that would leave a young man dead and his companions facing serious charges. The body of 18-year-old Dallas Rashard Johnson was discovered by deputies from the Spalding County Sheriff's Office in the parking lot of the Sunnyside Baptist Church at approximately 2:40 a.m. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound.
Investigators soon pieced together a narrative of a night of crime that took a tragic turn. Johnson, along with three other individuals, Carmello Miller, Jarvis Ard, and Jonathan Morales, were reportedly in the process of breaking into multiple cars in the area. As they were fleeing from one of the vehicles they had entered, Miller, who was armed with a handgun, allegedly fired his weapon. The bullet struck Johnson, one of his own cohorts in the illicit activities.
Following the shooting, Miller, Ard, and Morales are said to have loaded the injured Johnson into a vehicle and driven him to Ard's residence on Old Atlanta Road. A call to 911 was made from the residence. However, before any first responders could arrive, Miller allegedly put Johnson back into the car. In an attempt to distance the crime from the residence, he then drove the vehicle to the nearby church parking lot, where he abandoned the car with Johnson's body still inside.
The subsequent investigation led by the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the District Attorney's Office, quickly identified the suspects. The location of the shooting was determined, and physical evidence, including a shell casing, a projectile, and the weapon believed to have been used, was recovered. This evidence, along with witness statements and video footage from the area, corroborated the investigators' findings. As a result, two of the suspects were taken into custody, while a third remained at large in connection with the death of Dallas Johnson.
