CASE SUMMARY
THE VICTIM
On December 30, 1985 Gurcia Mae Johnson, a woman in her mid-thirties with three children was murdered. Gurcia had had a difficult life and had been involved in drug dealing and prostitution. She had also been a police informant. Gurcia was from Mansfield, Ohio. She was above average in fighting skills. Her body was found in Mifflin State Park at Fisherman's Point by the reservoir, with knife slash wounds to her neck. She was nude with her clothing scattered near her body. Mifflin is in Ashland County, just over the county line. She had a brother, Marshall Smith (AKA Kennon), a sister-in-law Ida Kennon, and three children, Ronnie, Derrick, and Patrick.
THE CRIME
On December 30, 1985 Gurcia Johnson was in a local downtown Mansfield Bar called The Kallethea Bar, known to be a prostitution and drug den. She was with her best friend, LaTreva “Tiger” Perdue, a fellow prostitute and drug user. They met up with two men, one was taller with dark hair and "chin whiskers", the other was shorter with light hair. The men wanted to buy some marijuana and engage the women for sex. The women left with the men and got into an old burnt-orange pickup truck, which had a homemade wooden bed. The bed was constructed to block the view from the rear window. The truck also had a floor shifter.
The taller of the two men drove and gave Gurcia $20 for the marijuana, whereupon she directed them to a house, went inside, and returned with a small amount of marijuana in a baggie. They all smoked some and the taller man became agitated and accused Gurcia of having taken some of the marijuana out of the bag. Perdue became uncomfortable and urged Gurcia to leave with her at a stop light, but Gurcia said that the men had money and she 'wanted some of it". Perdue bailed out at a stop light and the truck drove away.
Approximately 3 hours later, at around 11pm, Gregory Jackson was driving through the Charles Mill Lake Reservoir Park in Mifflin, Ohio, the next town over from Mansfield, and across the county line into Ashland County. He discovered a body in the snow.
Gurcia had bruises on the left side of her nose and face, bruised and cracked ribs on the left side of her body, and several slash wounds across her neck which were inflicted from left to right, upwards and from behind. One of the slashes had nicked an artery and she bled to death. A right-handed person inflicted all these wounds.
