The Unsolved Murder of Johmeik Simmons
This case is a little shorter, because unfortunately it is still unsolved. According to the police, it remains an open case, but Johmeik’s family believes the police aren’t doing much to solve their son’s murder. I watched an episode of Still a Mystery on ID, it’s season 2, episode 13 titled ‘The Hidden Clues.’
Background
Johmeik Simmons was a 20 year old from Freeport, Long Island, New York. He lived with his dad in Freeport, and his mother, Tihesha lived in Queens.
Johmeik was a hard-working student, who struggled a little in his early days of high school, but by senior year he was the captain of the Freeport High School football team.
Johmeik Simmons
After high school, he wanted to attend Nassau Community College, and study to become a sports trainer. However, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. His parents said he lost his hair, and lost a lot of weight due to chemotherapy.
In November of 2016, Johmeik’s chemo worked, and he was in remission.
Murder
On the day of the murder, Johmeik called his cousin to say he had to go to his grandma’s house for something. He never arrived, and his worried grandma called to say that Johmeik never showed up.
Johmeik had spent the day with two of his friends from high school, and was reportedly shot in the head, and was rushed to the hospital. Johmeik’s dad saw a post on Facebook and rushed straight to the hospital to find his son.
When his parents got to the hospital, his dad said in the episode that Johmeik had bags on his hands, and he was told that they had to test his hands for gun shot residue. Johmeik’s parents said that Johmeik would never kill himself, he had just gotten over his cancer and wanted to live.
Johmeik’s friends reportedly showed up at the hospital, and Johmeik’s mom confronted them right away. They said Johmeik said he had a fight with his dad before he came over to the house, and pulled a gun out and shot himself in an upstairs bedroom.
Johmeik’s parents didn’t believe it.
On November 20th, Johmeik was taken off life support.
Autopsy
The case was ruled a suicide, and closed in July of 2017.
Investigation
Three days after Johmeik died, his cell phone and keys were put into his dad’s mailbox, and all the text messages from that night were deleted.
Johmeik’s parents were so upset, and begged for the police and an assistant district attorney to look into the case. The assistant district attorney said he only would if he got a confession.
They were then approached by a man named Edward Dowd, a private investigator and former NYPD homicide detective. He wanted to help them pro bono.
He also hired Dr. Jonathan Arden, a forensic pathologist. They noticed some strange things about the crime scene and about the gun shot wound to Johmeik’s head.
In the room where Johmeik was shot, their was damage to the wall almost like someone was pushed into the wall. There was also blood spatter to the wall directly above the damaged wall. Dr. Arden said that the angle of the gun shot was at a strange place on the head, that would be complicated for someone to do that to themselves. There wasn’t any gun shot residue in the wound, which is strange because in most suicides, the gun is right against where the person is shooting. He said Johmeik’s wound was caused by another person.
One other strange thing that happened, is Johmeik’s mom received a text message that the person who killed Johmeik ran after it happened. The police also only interviewed Johmeik’s friends the night it happened, but never again after that.
Other
In April 2019, the family hired Abe George, an attorney. Abe George presented an affidavit to present Dr. Arden’s findings.
In March 2020, Johmeik’s death is changed from a homicide to undetermined. Johmeik’s family is still not happy with this. Johnmeik’s mom said:
““I won’t stop fighting. Justice for my son is a trial and a guilty verdict for those who murdered him.””
Johmeik’s mom, Tihesha
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It’s so tragic that Johmeik was given a second chance at life, just to have it all taken away in a few months. He didn't deserve to be killed, and his family doesn’t deserve to have no justice for their loved one. I don’t want to say the police aren’t doing everything they can to solve this case, but if that’s how the family feels, than maybe they aren't. I hope they get justice soon, but I think they will keep searching for their own answers until the police help them.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a lot of pictures or videos about Johmeik’s case because it’s not reported a lot, but I do encourage you to watch the episode on ID because his family talks about Johmeik, what he went through in life and their fight to get justice.
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