Nikolai Mather: Alright, Joseph – so, before we get into it, I wanted to give a quick heads-up to our listeners: there's been some… I guess uncertainty over the gender identity of the victim. All official documentation from the sheriff and the medical examiner says male, and I know that many in the family use he/him pronouns. I don't mean to be insensitive or speak over them. That's the last thing I wanna do. But since she listed her gender on Facebook as female and listed her name as Ervianna, I'm gonna go ahead and use female pronouns and the name Ervianna.
With that out of the way, let's get into this update. You've been covering this story for six months now. Why don't we begin with what happened back in February?
Joseph Williams: Sure thing. The first notice that we had gotten about Johnson was when the Columbus County Sheriff's Office published a missing persons flyer about Johnson in middle of February of this year. And it was just the day after that we got word that Johnson's body had actually been discovered a couple of yards away from their home near Tabor City, North Carolina. So I went out to the scene, I spoke with some law enforcement officials there, confirmed some details, and the sheriff's office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation both said that they were investigating Johnson's death as a homicide. We hadn't gotten much details other than what was initially reported from the scene until the autopsy was dropped in July.
NM: Yeah. So this autopsy, it shows that she was shot in the back of the head. What other details were in there?
JW: Yeah. Looking through the autopsy, there were some new pieces of information that came to light. Law enforcement apparently believe that Johnson's body was moved, possibly sometime after their killing. The reason that they believe that, we've pieced together from the autopsy, is based on testimony provided by the family. They had searched the property near their home where Johnson was discovered just two days prior to the discovery, and they hadn't found the body there. But after consulting with a psychic, the family searched that area again after the psychic had told them that Johnson's body could be found near a body of water. They searched that area again that same day, on February the 19th, and that's where they discovered Johnson's body. According to a neighbor who shared testimony with law enforcement – again, this is according to the autopsy report – apparently they noticed – the neighbor, that is – noticed that there were flashlights and a vehicle in the nearby area around 1 am on February the 19th, the day that Johnson's body was discovered. So again, that is the reason that law enforcement believes that Johnson's body very well could have been moved after their killing.
NM: Got you. Yeah. So do we have any leads yet on who her murderer may be? I know that there weren't any suspects back in February.
JW: We haven't received any updates on any potential suspect or suspects as it pertains to this case. However, there was an incident report that the sheriff's office shared with us on February the 16th, the same day that Johnson was reported missing, that provided a description of a potential offender or suspect, describing them as a 21 year old black male standing about five feet 10 inches and weighing about 180 pounds. But no, we don't have much else to go off of other than that.
NM: So what kind of updates can we expect in the future?
JW: We'll, of course, be attuned to any developments that we get from either the Columbus County Sheriff's Office or the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and if they provide any updates again, if they were to make mention of a potential suspect, I'm sure that we would follow up on that case accordingly.
NM: For sure, absolutely well. Thank you so much, Joseph for joining us, and thank you for your reporting.
JW: Thank you, Nikolai.
Read more:
- NR: SBI investigating Johnson’s death as homicide
- NR: Autopsy reveals new details about Johnson killing
