The Billey Joe Johnson Homicide

Abstract

The victim, Billey Joe Johnson Jr., died in 2008 by a near contact, penetrating 12 gauge shotgun discharge to his left head at the ear. The manner of death was “undetermined” by the medical examiner. A county grand jury and two independent pathologists concluded the death was accidental. Another pathologist concluded suicide. Five digital cameras documented the shooting scene over a period of more than 11 h. There was no expert shooting scene reconstruction before this report. We observed 1) the shotgun’s position at discharge was not possible for either suicide or accident scenarios. 2) Stun gun wounds, centered within a halo of hyperemia, were on the victim’s right lateral mid-lumbar skin. 3) The body was moved twice before the scene image documentation and processing by law enforcement. The shooting scene was staged. 4) A love note, which had a blood transfer likely from an assailant, was left in the victim’s vehicle at the scene. 5) The staging of the shooting scene continued into the scene processing, which was documented by the image metadata time stamps. 6) Multiple persons were involved in the homicide.