Melvin Johnson

Serial Killer

John L. Woods, a 46-year-old man, was killed inside his Decatur, Illinois, apartment on April 30, 1988. He had been stabbed repeatedly in a violent attack that investigators initially believed may have been staged to resemble a burglary. An autopsy determined that Woods suffered numerous stab wounds, including two fatal wounds that penetrated his heart and lungs. The circumstances suggested that the killer had been close enough to Woods to enter the apartment and attack him at close range before attempting to misdirect police about what had occurred. Authorities were alerted to the killing by an anonymous caller who reported that Woods had been brutally murdered. Investigators later determined that the caller was Melvin Johnson, a convicted sex offender and burglar who had a close personal relationship with Woods. Johnson had moved to Decatur after being paroled in the early 1980s, and Woods reportedly provided him with financial and emotional support during Johnson's repeated periods of incarceration. Johnson had most recently been released from prison in December 1987 after serving time for burglary, only a few months before Woods was killed. Johnson quickly emerged as a serious suspect. Police found that he could not provide a convincing account of his whereabouts during the period surrounding the murder. Investigators also learned that property had been taken from Woods' apartment and that Johnson had possession of items belonging to Woods. A knife connected to Johnson was reportedly consistent with the type of weapon that could have caused the fatal injuries. Despite the suspicious circumstances, authorities did not believe they had enough physical evidence at the time to prove Johnson had committed the murder. He was questioned but was not arrested or charged. The investigation also focused on two men who may have been seen with Woods shortly before his death. One was described as a young white man who had reportedly been in Woods' company at a Hardee's restaurant. The other was described as a young Black man seen jogging with Woods near a YMCA. Police publicly sought information about the men during the summer of 1988, but neither lead produced an arrest. With no eyewitness who could identify the attacker and no forensic match available using the technology of the period, the case remained unresolved for more than two decades. Johnson eventually left Illinois and was imprisoned in Texas on unrelated charges. He died there in October 2003 while reportedly suffering from stomach cancer and AIDS. Because Johnson was a convicted offender, a DNA profile associated with him was later entered into the national CODIS database. Advances in forensic testing allowed Decatur investigators to reexamine biological evidence preserved from several unsolved killings committed during the 1980s. In 2009, DNA testing linked Johnson to the murders of 12-year-old Sherry Gordon and 10-year-old Theresa Hall, two cousins killed in Decatur on Halloween night in 1984. Later that year, investigators announced that forensic evidence also connected him to the 1985 murder of Sandra Hopson and to Woods' 1988 killing. The DNA findings supported what detectives had suspected shortly after Woods' death: Johnson had killed the man who had provided him with companionship, money and support. No arrest, criminal charge or trial resulted from the identification because Johnson had already been dead for approximately six years when the forensic match was made. Decatur police nevertheless considered Woods' murder solved and classified Johnson as a serial killer responsible for at least four deaths. Although Woods' family never saw the case tested before a jury, the DNA evidence finally identified his killer and brought an official resolution to a homicide that had remained unanswered since 1988. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

Sherry Gordon Age: (12), Date of Death: 1984-10-31

Melvin Johnson (serial killer) - Wikipedia