She Was Found Murdered In A Cornfield After Taking Her Trash Out One Afternoon
In July 1984, 28-year-old Donna Johnson of rural Lamar County, Georgia, was found brutally murdered in a wooded region. More than four decades later, her killer has never been found, but a cold case squad is hoping to glean new leads.
Donna graduated from Lamar County High School in 1973 and is remembered as a cheerful person. She tied the knot with Jimmy Johnson in 1978, and together, the pair resided in a farmhouse that sat on over 40 acres of property outside of town.
At the time she was killed, Donna worked at Eckerd Pharmacy, had a dog, and reportedly wanted to have children one day.
It was about 2:00 p.m. on July 16, 1984, when she left her house to take trash to a local dumpster. She reportedly brought her own pup as well as her father-in-law’s dog with her.
Donna never returned home, and hours later, her vehicle, a 1971 Buick Skylark, was discovered by her mother, Beula Johnson, backed up against the dumpsters. The doors were locked, with the two dogs still inside, and the windows had been cracked.
Beula contacted the police, but by the early evening, it had begun to rain heavily, and the weather slowed down the investigation. Search parties, including officers, firefighters, and neighbors, began scouring the area, and it wasn’t until 8:52 p.m. that Donna’s body was located in a region that had previously been searched.
Donna’s neighbor, Herman Coffey, ultimately found her remains in a rut off an abandoned logging road.
“It was a cornfield, and there were some fertilizer sacks lying around. At first, I thought she was one of those sacks, but then the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I walked up to her. I knew she was dead,” Herman recalled.
“Her head was tilted back in the rut. She had just been thrown out. The tracks were fresh. After all that rain, her clothes were dry. Whoever did that was a cruel individual. It unnerved me. She was our neighbor,” he continued.
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“They were in a small vehicle because it turned around in the road. It looked like they turned around and just dumped her. It had to be after the rain or just as the rain was ending.”
Donna had been hit in the head, bound, gagged, assaulted, and run over by a car.
According to Pike County Journal-Reporter, the zipper and waistline of her jeans had been cut away, leaving her exposed, and she had deep gouge wounds on her upper left thigh. Both her hands and her feet were tied behind her back, with knots that were elaborate. She’d been gagged with undergarments and beaten with a tool, perhaps a roofing hatchet, leaving her right eye almost swollen shut.
An autopsy determined Donna’s estimated time of death was between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on July 16, 1984, and her cause of death was multiple blows to the head.
In the wake of her tragic murder, community members hosted a two-day fundraising event to put together a reward fund. Then, Donna’s funeral was held on July 18, and her husband, Jimmy, didn’t return to work for more than four months.
Despite following up on numerous leads, though, the police have never arrested or charged anyone in connection with her case. It’s remained unsolved for over 40 years, but in 2022, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s (GBI) Cold Case Squad expressed hope that they’d find new leads.
The squad, which is made up of retired agents and supervisors, was asked to look into Donna’s murder by Lamar County. In July 2022, they reportedly spent hours reviewing case files and evidence. Unfortunately, this led nowhere.
“And that’s disappointing we can’t call a victim’s family, but I think we’ll get there,” said John Cagle, a GBI Cold Case Squad member.
Donna’s mother, Beula, has since passed away, never getting any answers or justice for her daughter.
“Naturally, we won’t ever forget it, can’t. But at least we can put it behind us enough so we don’t think about it as much as we do. She was my baby. She was a very sweet person,” Beula previously stated before she died.
Anyone with information regarding Donna’s case is urged to contact the Lamar County Sheriff’s Department at 770-358-5159 or the GBI Tip Line at 1-800-597-TIPS.
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