In the spring of 1988, a grim discovery was made in a wooded area near Colorado Springs, Colorado. A man walking through the remote landscape on March 26th stumbled upon a body concealed under a covering of leaves. The victim, a Black male in his mid-20s with the muscular build of an athlete, had his hands and feet bound with shoelaces. Authorities were summoned to the scene and determined that the man had been killed elsewhere and transported to this location.
An examination revealed he had been severely beaten about the face and the cause of death was manual strangulation. A gag, fashioned from jacket material, had been placed in his mouth.
The deceased was later identified as John “Johnnie” Bernard Wilson, a young man who had been living with his mother in Denver. She had recently filed a missing person report for her son, a talented amateur boxer who once held the heavyweight Golden Gloves championship in Nevada at the age of 18. His promising career was cut short by a bullet that remained lodged in his chest from a previous incident, which affected his breathing. To help him escape a burgeoning drug habit, his mother had moved with him to Denver for a fresh start. He managed to stay clean for a time, even rekindling his passion for boxing with the help of a former coach. However, his mother suspected he had recently relapsed into drug use.
The investigation into Johnnie's murder gained momentum when Lynn Chatman, the wife of a man named Reggie Chatman, came forward. She informed detectives that she and her husband were in a precarious financial situation and were staying in a motel. She recounted a night where she witnessed her husband and an accomplice in a violent confrontation with Johnnie in their motel room. Frightened, she hid with her young daughter in a back room. When she emerged later, she saw Reggie and the other man removing Johnnie's body and placing it into a car.
Based on this information, police identified the accomplice as Joey Jerome Brown. The motive for the brutal killing appeared to be a drug deal gone wrong. Joey Brown told investigators that he and Reggie had given Johnnie $100 to purchase drugs for them, but he allegedly took the money and never returned. On the night of the murder, an enraged Reggie was beating Johnnie when an insult directed at Lynn allegedly caused Reggie to fatally strangle him. Following the murder, they used Joey's car to transport and dump Johnnie's body in the woods. Joey Brown pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and accessory to a crime and received a four-year sentence. Reggie Chatman was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Both men have since completed their sentences and have been released.
