The Murder of Johnia Berry
For this case I watched an episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn, which if you haven’t noticed already, I watched a lot of. It’s season 5 episode 12, titled ‘Left in the Dark.’
A 21 year old is killed in her apartment.
Johnia Berry
Background
Johnia Berry was a 21 year old University of Tennessee graduate student. She had just recently moved to Knoxville to pursue her dream of becoming a child psychologist. She was also engaged to a man named Jason White, who was a law student in Michigan.
Johnia’s family said that her spirit could light up a room. They also said she was beautiful and smart.
The Murder
On December 6, 2004, on a cold rainy night around 4am, a man covered in blood ran into a convenience store. His name was Jason Aymami, and he was Johnia’s roommate. He asked the gas station clerk to call the Knox County 911. The clerk said a man ran in, he was heavily bloodied, and said he and his roommate had been attacked by a knife wielding attacker. Jason was put on the phone, and he confirmed that he had been stabbed in the chest and hit in the face, but was able to escape.
The first responders rushed to the gas station and to Jason and Johnia’s apartment. Jason had eight stab wounds to his arm, chest and face. He also had a deep wound on his right hand. Johnia’s injuries were far worse, she was found laying face down by the entrance door to the apartment complex. Johnia was still alive, but was unable to speak to the police. She was rushed to the hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries.
When Johnia was in the hospital, she was found to have been stabbed twenty times, to her face and upper body. She also had defensive wounds to her hands. After she passed away, she was identified by her brothers.
The Investigation
This was now a homicide investigation, and the police returned to Johnia’s apartment. They also wanted to speak to Jason, who was still in the hospital.
They asked Jason to go over his story. He said he heard a scream from Johnia’s bedroom, he got up to open his door, and was confronted by the attacker. He said the attacker followed him into his bedroom, pushed him on the bed and started stabbing him. Jason said he was able to kick the attacker, and run out the door when the attacker fell down. He said he didn’t hear anything else from Johnia, and he figured she must have run out of the apartment as well.
When the police searched the apartment, they found a grizzly scene. A trail of Johnia’s blood was found coming out of her bedroom. She had collapsed in the living room, and this was confirmed after they found a pool of blood. Johnia somehow regained her strength, staggered out of the apartment to try to find help. Her blood was found on all of her neighbor’s doors, and on the stairs near the front door, where she was found by the police. No one helped Johnia on the night she died. Her mom Joan was devastated to learn Johnia had tried so hard to get help on the night she died.
The murder weapon was also found in the doorway of Johnia’s bedroom. The murder weapon was a kitchen knife from Johnia’s kitchen. It was bloody and bent, and a fingerprint was found on it. The knife was sent in for testing.
The police found a few other key blood stains. There was a trail of blood leading out the back door, and down the back staircase. The police knew Johnia was found by the front door, and Jason claimed he also went out the front door. A partial bloody shoe print was found in Jason’s bedroom, on a piece of cardboard. This was also sent in for testing.
The Fiance
Johnia and her fiance, Jason.
The police looked into the closest person to Johnia, her fiance Jason White. Jason said he was in Michigan, which is about 600 miles away from Knoxville.
Everyone close to the couple said that Johnia and Jason had an amazing relationship. On the night Johnia died, they spoke on the phone around 11:30pm. Jason was interviewed in this episode, and he said they always talked on the phone until Johnia fell asleep. Jason received a call from Joan, around 10am the next morning about the news of Johnia’s death.
The police looked into Jason’s alibi. They checked every mode of transportation to see if he could have somehow made it to Knoxville and back. Jason was soon cleared as a suspect.
The Roommate
The police were very suspicious of Jason Aymami, the roommate, almost right away. Johnia’s family were suspicious of him as well, and they were upset when he showed up at the funeral. The police were suspicious of the cut on his right hand, besides the deep cut, his injuries were very superficial compared to Johnia’s.
The police looked into Johnia and Jason’s relationship. Jason told the police that he met Johnia in college, and he let her stay with him when she moved to Knoxville. Joan was asked if she knew Jason, and she said yes, she had stayed with them when she visited Johnia.
Jason was brought in for questioning. The police asked him to go over his story again. He said he came home that night around 10:30pm, Johnia was home and wrapping Christmas presents. He said Johnia went into her room around 11pm, and he fell asleep around 12am. He said he didn’t wake up until 4am, when he woke up to Johnia screaming. He said he thought that Johnia was having a nightmare, until he opened his door and saw the intruder. He said the intruder noticed him, ran over to his room, grabbed his shoulders and started stabbing him. Jason said he had gotten the cut on his finger when he was fighting the person off.
The police asked Jason why he didn’t try to help Johnia. Jason said he only had a few seconds to run out of the apartment, he didn’t hear anything else from Johnia, so he figured she ran out too.
The police asked Jason which door he ran out of. He said he ran out the front door because he had to unlock it. They asked him how an intruder had gotten inside their apartment. Jason said the backdoor must have been unlocked. He couldn’t remember if he locked it after he put the garbage out there.
Jason was asked to take a polygraph test. He was very hesitant about it, but eventually took it to clear his name. He was very confident that he passed, but he was confronted after he was told he failed it. Jason became very emotional, loud and confrontational. He said he didn’t kill Johnia, and feared for his life, knowing the attacker was still out there.
I’ll say this, Jason seemed very guilty throughout this whole episode. However, an unknown source’s DNA was found in Johnia’s bedroom, on the murder weapon, on the back door, and on the back stairwell.
The police also said that the polygraph examiner had made a mistake, and that Jason had actually passed. It turns out he really was a victim, and he was officially cleared as a suspect.
A False Lead
The DNA of the unknown male was tested, and the database search came up empty. The police asked Jason if he remembered what the attacker looked like, and he said he remembers some details. He described the attacker as being 180 pounds, stocky, 20 years old, 5’8.” He also said the person had droopy, pecan shaped eyes, and he had dark blonde hair.
The composite sketch
A composite sketch was created, and a few days after the sketch was released a tip came into the police. The tip said that there had been a group of boys who had been involved in a string of robberies in Johnia’s neighborhood, around the time of her murder.
One of the boys was a 19 year old named Michael Purcafel. He had a warrant out for his arrest, and he was brought in for questioning. When Michael was brought in, his shoes caught the attention of the police. The shoes looked like they were similar to the shoe print found in Jason’s bedroom.
The police collected Michael’s DNA, fingerprints and shoes, which were sent in for testing. Michael also told the police that he was involved in the murder. He said he was with a friend in Johnia’s apartment, and he even described the apartment. He said his friend killed Johnia, but the more he talked, the less his story made sense. His DNA, fingerprints and shoe print didn’t match either, and the police said that Michael just wanted to be the center of attention. He was ruled out as a suspect, and the case stalled.
A Random Act
There were many tips that came in, but they were all false leads. A $70,000 reward was offered.
Johnia’s case stalled for a few years, when the police finally received a tip about a new suspect. The suspect was a man named Taylor Lee Olson, who was almost an exact match to the composite sketch. He had a criminal history for theft. He was brought in for questioning. He denied killing Johnia, and he allowed the police to take his DNA.
Taylor Lee Olson
On September 20, 2007, the police received the news they had been waiting for. Taylor Olson’s DNA was a match. His blood was found in the hallway, the living room, door handle and on the back staircase. His fingerprint was also found on the murder weapon.
Taylor was confronted by the police, and he said “I don’t know why.” He denied it several times, until he finally broke. He said he went there to steal a car, and went into the apartment just to look for car keys. He said he was confronted by Johnia, but didn’t remember seeing a second person in the apartment.
Taylor Lee Olson was arrested and charged with first degree murder.
A Cowardly Act
Taylor later said that he killed Johnia accidentally. Joan said it wasn’t an accident that he went into the apartment, that he went into her room and stabbed her, and then attacked Jason. Taylor also tried to say the murder was done by his friend Noah Cox, but there was no DNA from another person in the apartment.
On March 24, 2008, four months before his trial, Taylor committed suicide in his jail cell.
Joan said Taylor was a monster, and that he took the easy way out.
Joan and Mike Berry, Johnia’s parents
Other
Joan lobbied for a DNA Felony Arrestee Law to be passed in Tennessee. It was officially signed in 2007, and Joan believes it should be a law in all states.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’m so glad that the police didn’t give up on this case, or that they didn’t arrest Jason Aymami for it. He did seem guilty for this whole episode, but obviously he was a victim too. Johnia and Jason were attacked because some lowlife wanted to steal a car. It’s true what they say, people will literally kill for anything.
I feel so sorry for Johnia’s family and friends. They were so close to truly getting justice for Johnia, and Taylor Olson did take the cowardly way out. He should have faced up to what he did, and he obviously knew that he was going to go to prison for the rest of his life.
Sources
https://patch.com/tennessee/across-tn/tennessee-has-failed-collect-dna-76-000-violent-offenders
