Hank Johnson was murdered more than 100 miles away from home almost two years ago and a key clue may be buried with him.
His mother, Sandi Johnson will be at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery to watch what she thinks should have been done a long time ago. She believes he was buried with crucial physical evidence underneath his fingernails that was missed during his murder investigation. On Monday, a judge granted the exhumation. “I think that I would have a chance. I think that we may find out who killed my son. I think that is the only chance,” Sandi said.
She wants to be there to watch the exhumation. She hasn’t trusted the investigators or Robertson County District Attorney John Paschall from the start. They’re facing a federal lawsuit alleging civil conspiracy which she believes led to the mishandling of evidence in her son’s case.
After Johnson’s body is exhumed, it will go to the medical examiner’s office in Galveston County where the evidence will be collected. It will then be returned to the cemetery in southeast Houston to be buried again. Read more here.
UPDATE: In 2013, Trae Deandre Thompson was indicted for the 2008 murder of Hank Johnson. Thompson’s defense attorneys said their client agreed to a plea. By pleading no contest, Thompson was neither admitting nor denying he killed Johnson. In 2014, he plead no contest to criminally negligent homicide and was sentenced to 15 months in jail. The same jury awarded Johnson’s family $8.6 million in damages.