The Murder of Marilou Johnson
For this case I watched an episode of On the Case with Paula Zahn (and yes, I watch this show A LOT!) It’s season 15 episode 7, titled ‘Greed, Lies and Murder.’
A mother of three disappears from her home.
Background
Marilou Johnson
Marilou Johnson was a 50 year old mom of three boys, Jared, Jerel and Jason. Her husband passed away from cancer a few years before, and she worked extremely hard to be able to provide for her sons.
Marilou was working full time when she met a new man. His name was Roger Blanchard. Roger was 21 years older than Marilou, and he was a retired businessman. Roger had made a lot of money from owning his own factory, and he invited Marilou and the boys to move into his 10,000 square foot mansion. They accepted, and they were all really happy until Marilou disappeared.
Marilou and Roger
Disappearance
On June 15, 2007, Roger Blanchard called the Macomb County police. The police arrived just after midnight, and Roger told them that his girlfriend was missing. Roger hadn’t seen Marilou since the previous morning, and neither had the boys. They all tried to contact her, and it was strange that she didn’t answer. Roger said that Marilou told him she was going to run errands and then go for a run.
The police went around the wealthy neighborhood to search for Marilou, thinking maybe she was just injured and needed help. There was no sign of her. The police asked Roger if they could look around the property, and he said yes. There was no sign of Marilou, or any sign of foul play. The police had even drained the pool in the backyard to look for her.
Marilou’s purse and phone were missing and so was her passport. Marilou was a native of the Philippines and the police wondered if Marilou had a family emergency and just couldn’t contact anyone. This was ruled out after they got in contact with Marilou’s sister.
Investigation
Roger was immediately the first suspect, but he was ruled out right away. Roger had severe health problems and was bed ridden.
Marilou’s sons also told the police that Roger would never hurt her. He made her really happy, he even provided things for her and the boys that they never had. He bought Marilou a new car, and purchased one for all the boys when they turned sixteen.
Roger’s grown children weren’t too happy about their relationship. They had made comments about Marilou being a gold digger, and thought Marilou was taking advantage of Roger.
One story came up about Roger’s children. A year before Marilou disappeared, Roger was sick in the hospital. The children hired an attorney to evict Marilous and the boys. They had a moving truck come to the property to move their things and they made them leave. Marilou didn’t know that Roger had no idea what was going on, and she didn’t contact him for awhile. A few months later, Roger was able to get in contact with her and she moved back in.
The police questioned Roger’s children. They didn’t seem to care that Marilou was missing, which shocked the police. The police put the children under surveillance, but they were ruled out after a few weeks.
A New Suspect
A tip came into the police from Roger’s long time housekeeper. She said the handyman/plumber made her uncomfortable just two days before Marilou disappeared. His name was David Wright, and Roger had hired him when they were doing renovations on their home.
The housekeeper said he came by, and made a comment about why she was there on a specific day. The housekeeper didn’t know how he knew her schedule, as she’d only seen him a handful of times. David said he was there to fix the hot tub, and wanted to talk to Marilou or Roger. The housekeeper said they weren’t available, and that after she said this David got upset, and stormed off. The housekeeper locked all the doors.
The police questioned Roger about David. Roger said he invested a large amount of money in David’s plumbing business. He gave him $50,000 to start, and Roger thought he would pay him back after he started working. Roger said David never paid him back, and even asked him for more money. Roger said not until he paid him back. David still worked at the mansion up until Marilou disappeared, but for free.
The police wanted to talk to David, but first they followed him for a few days to see if he would do anything to raise red flags. He did. The police followed him to a car wash, where he didn’t clean his car but threw away trash. Inside the bag, their was blood. However, it turned out to be possum blood, not Marilou’s blood.
By chance, David was taken into custody that night for not having a proper license plate. In his pocket, they found white and yellow diamonds. Roger had reported Marilou’s necklace stolen after the second time they spoke to him. Could this be from Marilou’s necklace?
Accident or Murder?
During questioning, the police asked David where the diamond came from. He said they were from his ex-wife. However, the police were looking at photos to compare the diamonds to Marilou’s necklace, and it was a match.
The police knew they had their killer. They asked David what happened, and he told them it was an accident. He said he went over to repair the hot tub, and was going to overcharge Roger for the new part. Marilou was leaving the house to go run her errands, and told David they didn’t need him to fix the hot tub. David had a temper, and he told them he snapped.
He said he grabbed Marilou and threw her in the back of his truck. He said she fell and when he pulled her up, their was blood. He said she was in shock. He said he poked with her a knife and she wasn’t moving. He cleaned the blood off of the driveway with a hose, and left.
The police asked David what he did with Marilou’s body, and he said after he left with Marilou he went up to his family’s property and buried her. He then went back a few days later, took Marilou’s body and buried an animal in that grave.
He then took Marilou in the middle of Cass lake, tied cinder blocks to the sheets she was wrapped in and dumped her body. Marilou was recovered a few days later, after the police brought in a diving team. Marilou, her purse, wallet and necklace without the diamonds were recovered.
An official autopsy also showed that Marilou was not killed by accident. The autopsy showed she had been stabbed multiple times, including two stab wounds to her heart.
Conviction
David Wright pleaded not guilty, but was convicted at his trial of murder, larceny and kidnapping. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
David Wright (there weren’t too many pictures of him out there).
Other
Roger Blanchard passed away a few days after David’s trial.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Wow, what a piece of shit. David killed a mother of three because he was a greedy asshole. He tried to take advantage of a man who did nothing but help him start his own business. When he didn’t get what he wanted, he tried to scam him and murdered his girlfriend. I hope he never gets out of prison, because it seems that this guy has the shortest fuse ever.
Sources
https://www.foxnews.com/story/plumber-charged-in-death-of-missing-michigan-woman
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grisly-find-at-lakes-bottom-in-michigan/
https://www.mlive.com/grpress/2008/07/plumber_gets_life_in_macomb_co.html
