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Family, Friends Join Search For Missing Mother

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

vkalfrin@tampatrib.com

Published: November 18, 2008

Jennifer Johnson

Family and friends of Jennifer Denise Johnson spent this evening putting up fliers about the missing woman's disappearance.

Johnson, 31, was reported missing Saturday evening after relatives became concerned when she missed her 2-year-old daughter's birthday party.

"We hope she comes back safe, but if not we're prepared," said Johnson's sister, Rachel Johnson. "She never would've been away from her baby for that long."

More than a dozen family members and friends walked up and down East Cayuga Street, where Johnson's former boyfriend Vincent Brown's parents live. Brown told Tampa police he and Johnson went there around 3 a.m. Saturday. The two had just visited the Apollo Club, where witnesses say the two were arguing.

Along Cayuga Street, friends and family of Johnson passed out fliers to passing drivers, handed them to neighbors watching from their doorstep and tacked them on to utility poles.

Later, the group gathered at Oak Park on East 15th Avenue, where Johnson's car was discovered Monday. They posted a few more fliers and talked to park guests. Amid the tire tracks where her car was removed, family and friends formed a prayer circle.

Brown, Johnson's ex-boyfriend and the child's father, is being held without bail at the Orient Road Jail for violating his probation on a cocaine-possession charge.

Brown appeared before Circuit Court Judge Walter Heinrich this morning, and Heinrich denied him bail because of the probation violation.

Curious about the television camera recording what he thought was a routine matter, Heinrich asked prosecutors, "Is there anything else that I need to tell him about?"

Assistant State Attorney Linda Grable replied, "He's a suspect in a murder case."

Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney's Office, clarified the remarks, saying Brown "is a suspect in the disappearance of a missing woman."

News Channel 8 photojournalist Kate Caldwell and information from Tribune archives contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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