Disturbing Crimes

Horrific details emerge about 7 abused corpses at Johnson Family Mortuary in Fort Worth

Disturbing details are emerging in the case against Johnson Family Mortuary in Fort Worth. Police were initially called to the South Handley Drive funeral home on July 15 after the building's owner reported finding an undisclosed number of bodies at the property.

At the time, Fort Worth Police declined to release further information, citing the ongoing investigation. But an arrest warrant affidavit filed July 23 with the Tarrant County district clerk reveals that eight bodies were recovered from the empty mortuary, and seven of them had been severely mishandled.

The arrest warrant affidavit describes a horror-house scene of decomposing and bug-infested bodies strewn about the property.

According to the warrant, the owners of the mortuary, Rachel and Dondre Johnson, were behind on their rent and were in the process of being evicted. When detective Matthew Barron arrived at the location, he immediately knew something was wrong.

"I noticed that the odor of decaying flesh could be smelled in the parking lot outside of the building," Barron wrote, adding that the mortuary was not equipped with a refrigeration system for the bodies beyond air conditioning.

Barron went on to describe a horror-house scene of decomposing and bug-infested bodies strewn about the property.

"Evidence of insect infestation and fly pupa was present on and near the corpses. Two of the corpses were those of decomposed children," Barron wrote. "An additional corpse was located in a utility area near the garage. This body was simply wrapped in a sheet and placed on top of a wooden coffee table."

Barron said that several corpses were draining bodily fluids onto the floor. "Buckets had been placed under the bodies in an attempt to contain the draining fluids. A shop vacuum was in the garage and appeared to have been used to vacuum up some of the draining fluid. Numerous bottles of cleaning chemicals and deodorizers were located throughout the building."

According to police, only one of the eight bodies recovered from the mortuary had been properly cared for. "We learned later that this corpse was from a recent funeral and was being prepared for shipment to the family in Kenya," Barron wrote.

Police have arrested Rachel Johnson, 35, and her husband Dondre Johnson, 39, for abuse of corpse, a class A misdemeanor. They were released on bonds of $10,500. Police said that Dondre reported he was not licensed by any state agency; Rachel told police she held a license through the state funeral home commission.

According to a company website, brothers Dondre and Derrick Johnson opened the Johnson Family Mortuary in July 2011 in Fort Worth. In a statement, Fort Worth Police said other arrests are still possible.

"This is a complicated and difficult case," the statement reads. "Our investigators are used to seeing sights like this at homicide crime scenes. They are not accustomed to seeing this at a funeral home or mortuary where family members have entrusted the proprietors to respectfully dispose of their loved ones."

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Politics News

Dallas comes out swinging against November propositions by Dallas Hero

Wikimedia

Dallas City Hall

The city of Dallas as well as four former Dallas mayors and a host of politicians past and present are coming out en masse against three controversial propositions that will be on the ballot in November.

Propositions S, T, and U are three amendments to the city charter that include forcing the city to hire more police officers, and another that would create an opportunity for wasteful lawsuits.

While all three propositions have a feelgood facade, political veterans say they would create crippling financial hardships, burying the city in lawsuits while grappling with budget shortfalls.

A press conference on October 2 opposing the amendments drew former mayors Laura Miller, Ron Kirk, Mike Rawlings, and Tom Leppert, who all voiced their opposition to the amendments, along with Dallas County Commissioner John Wylie Price, State Senator Royce West, and former Dallas police chief David Brown. Current and past city council members included Omar Narvaez, Gay Donnell Willis, Jaime Resendez, and Sandy Grayson.

John Wylie Price said "there's nothing more critical than you voting no on S, T, and U." Former Dallas police chief Brown said that "it would render Dallas as a police state with very little to no budget flexibility to deal with emerging issues in our neighborhoods." Former Mayor Ron Kirk said it was "rolling a hand grenade into city hall and destroying it," and former Mayor Rawlings called it "chocolate-covered rat poison." (Rawlings wins.)

The three propositions are from Dallas Hero, a mysterious, seemingly unhinged political group that gathered enough signatures to get them on the November 5 ballot.

Proposition S - lawsuits. It would allow residents to sue to city to require it to comply with charter provisions, ordinances and state law, and would waive the city’s governmental immunity from suit and liabilities.
Proposition T - city manager's salary. It would require that the city conduct an annual community survey whose results would have an impact on the city manager's salary and employment, including possibly getting them fired.
Proposition U - police. It would require the Dallas City Council to use 50 percent of its annual revenue to fund the Dallas Police and Fire Pension, and hire 900 police officers to get the force up to 4,000 total.

Dallas Hero calls itself "a bipartisan 501c4 organization that seeks to introduce citizen-powered amendments to the Dallas City Charter." The executive director is Pete Marocco, who served in the military and has since worked overseas in conflict zones for the U.S. government, as well as advising corporate security programs for companies such as Dell Technologies. and who worked during the Trump administration at the Pentagon, Department of State, Department of Commerce, and USAID.

The backer is said to be Dallas-area businessman Monty Bennett, who owns hotel companies, has tweeted about the propositions, and has employees who've been involved in Dallas hero initaitives including Cathy Cortina Arvizu, a paralegal at Bennett's hotel company, who filed a lawsuit against the city in response to its legislative efforts against the proposals; and Stefani Carter, the Dallas Hero president who sits on the board of one of Bennett's hotels.

Cease and desist
Meanwhile, the City of Dallas sent a cease-and-desist letter to Dallas Hero, demanding the group stop using city materials, including a photograph of three Dallas police officers and the city’s trademark and logo in its campaign literature mailouts.

"The three DPD officers in the photograph did not give Dallas HERO permission to use their likeness, and the City of Dallas did not give Dallas HERO permission to use the photograph or the City’s trademark and logo," the city states in a letter.

"The photograph in question shows the badge and insignia of DPD on the officers’ uniforms. The use of the City's badge and insignia without permission is strictly prohibited by Dallas City Code. The City and DPD are not affiliated with Dallas HERO and did not approve the usage."

"The City’s letter demands that Dallas HERO immediately stop using the photograph and the City's trademark and logo in any form, including in any online, printed, or digital materials."

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