In the quiet setting of his Hot Springs workshop on June 8, 2020, 61-year-old Larry Johnson made a frantic call to 911, reporting that he had been 'shot to hell.' During the harrowing call, dispatchers could hear a series of gunshots, a brief pause believed to be the shooter reloading, and then more shots. Tragically, the dispatchers heard Larry Johnson die on the call.
The investigation that followed would unravel a sinister plot allegedly orchestrated by his own wife.
Responding officers found a gruesome scene, with 23 shell casings scattered around and Larry Johnson having been shot 19 times. The suspect was apprehended at the scene, and the murder weapon, a. 22-caliber rifle, was discovered hidden underneath a nearby vehicle. The man taken into custody was 46-year-old Calvin Tyrone Davis. During the 911 call, Johnson had identified his attacker as a Black male who was 'up there with my wife.'
As investigators delved deeper, the case revealed itself to be a murder-for-hire scheme. Prosecutors alleged that Larry Johnson's 55-year-old wife, Martha Johnson, had hired Davis to kill her husband amidst a contentious divorce involving disputes over money and assets. Phone records placed Davis at Martha Johnson's home at least 17 times in the period leading up to the murder, despite both initially denying any connection to one another. According to the prosecution, Davis claimed that Martha had promised him her house and a minivan in exchange for carrying out the killing.
Calvin Tyrone Davis later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. In exchange for a reduced sentence of 30 years in prison, he agreed to testify against Martha Johnson. After his confession, in which he provided several inconsistent stories but always admitted to the shooting, he attempted to claim self-defense, an assertion prosecutors found nonsensical. Martha Johnson was subsequently arrested and held on a $1 million bond for first-degree murder and a felony firearm enhancement.
