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Police 'Did What They Could' To Trace Slain Mom's 911 Call

Johnson family photo

Jennifer Denise Johnson, seen here with her daughter, Je’Neiyce Brown, called 911 from a trunk, authorities say.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

and SAMARA SODOS, News Channel 8

Published: November 20, 2008

Updated: 11/20/2008 07:39 pm

TAMPA - The call was short, but the message was urgent.

"Help me,'' the woman said.

The call came from Jennifer Johnson, the 31-year-old mother found slain in a vacant house in Lakeland this week. Authorities and Johnson's family confirmed she called 911 for help from the trunk of a car Saturday.

"It's very chilling," said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.

The 911 call was taken by a Plant City dispatcher. Plant City police Capt. Darrell Wilson said the department sent a unit to try to find her but was unsuccessful.

"We did what we could,'' Wilson said. "It was a broken-up call."

Wilson said the caller was hard to understand. She told the dispatcher she was in a vehicle; Wilson said cell towers, which can be used to triangulate a callers' position, confirmed she was not in a stationary position.

Plant City police dispatched a unit to the general area where the cell towers indicated she was, Wilson said, but police found no sign of her.

"We didn't have much to go on," Wilson said.

The dispatcher was "upset about it, after she found out who it was," Wilson said.

He said he didn't want to describe too much about the call, including the exact time it was made or how long it lasted, because of the ongoing homicide investigation. The police departments have denied a public records request for its release.

Plant City police handed the contents of the call to Tampa and Lakeland police, who are handling the case.

McElroy declined to discuss the call in detail but said it helps investigators establish a timeline for Johnson's last moments.

Johnson's cell phone was not found with her credit cards, purse and other belongings inside her car at a city park Monday, McElroy said.

Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi would not comment specifically on the phone call or the investigation. She said detectives from several law enforcement agencies are working the case and any charges would be filed through her office.

Police in Tampa and Lakeland are investigating whether Vincent Brown Jr., 38, who is Johnson's ex-boyfriend and the father of her 2-year-old daughter, is connected to her death.

Brown is being held without bail at the Orient Road Jail on a charge of violating his probation on a cocaine-possession charge.

Brown has not been charged in connection with the slaying. Bondi this week called him a suspect in Johnson's disappearance.

Johnson's family reported her missing Saturday after she didn't appear for her daughter's birthday party. Tampa police said she was seen arguing with Brown at 11 p.m. Friday at the Apollo Club, 5110 N. 40th St.

On Tuesday, neighbors investigating an open back door at a house in foreclosure in Lakeland found Johnson's body. Police have not said how she died.

They asked relatives to describe her tattoos to identify her.

The day before Johnson's body was found, Brown's sister, Wanda Tillman, told reporters that the couple "had their ups and downs" but loved each other.

Johnson's mother, Alma Dorsey, said Johnson and Brown had had a tumultuous relationship for years.

Police and court records from four occasions show Johnson accused Brown of violence. In February 2005, she told Tampa police he threw a rock through her rear windshield outside a nightclub and pointed a gun at her and her sister. In May 2005, she said he beat her, pulled her hair and broke furniture. In July 2006, she said he punched her in the face while she was pregnant. Earlier this year, she said in an affidavit that he grabbed her by her throat on June 30, choked her and slammed her into a coffee table.

Brown was not prosecuted in any of these instances. According to police and court records, Johnson either recanted her statements, gave conflicting statements or would not cooperate with authorities.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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