Earl Lee Johnson Jr. confesses to stabbing Janice David to death on Facebook Live at Baton Rouge parking lot. Suspect and victim had been on 3-4 day drug binge.
A Louisiana woman was stabbed to death on a Facebook Live video after her killer was released from prison just weeks before the attack.
Earl Lee Johnson Jr., 35, was arrested for the murder of Janice David, 34, who was found beaten and fatally stabbed in a car at 9:52 p.m. Monday, Baton Rouge Police Department said.
The Facebook Live session lasted about 15 minutes and came after a three or four-day ‘drug binge,’ Sgt. L’Jean McKneely said during a Tuesday press conference.
‘Apparently they were involved in some drug usage together for a couple of days and the end result — as everyone has seen on Facebook Live — is a very gruesome, very evil act,’ McKneely said.
Johnson is alleged to have tied his victim’s hands to a car steering wheel using jumper cables, before proceeding to choke, beat then stab David, WBRZ reported.
Earl Lee Johnson Jr. killed his girlfriend on live because he thought she was stealing his drugs. Ladies y’all be safe out here. My condolences to the young lady family and friend 💔 pic.twitter.com/hOfIuBhPOV
— YGF Twizz 🎤🎶🌟 (@__february23) April 20, 2022
Suspect released from jail in January after 15 year prior sentence
Someone reported the footage to Facebook, which notified police. Responding officers found the car abandoned in a Baton Rouge parking lot of an office building called Sherwood Tower, police said. Inside the vehicle they found Davis’s mutilated unclothed body.
Officials also said Johnson tried to set the car on fire.
Johnson was arrested Monday on an unrelated car theft case, where he was allegedly injured during a police pursuit. He admitted to the killing when questioned, WBRZ reported.
Johnson was locked up back in 2005 on several armed robbery charges. He pleaded guilty to the charges in 2007 and was sentenced to 15 years behind bars with credit for time served KPLCTV reported.
Records state Johnson being released from prison on Jan. 17, 2022.
‘We launched our investigation and had a recording of the video. We already had him in custody. We interviewed him and he admitted to committing the killing,’ said McKneely.
David’s cousin Terri Austin called the situation ‘very horrible.’
Caught up in a world too hard to escape
‘She didn’t deserve to die like this… no one does,’ Austin told WAFB.
‘I really thought, you know, when they say she died that it would have been a vehicle wreck or something like that. Wouldn’t never dream that someone would do this to her.’
‘She was caught up in a world I guess you could say that you know it was hard for her to get away from,’ Austin added.
Authorities said it remained unclear if Johnson and David had been connected outside of those three to four days they did drugs together.
Johnson faces a first-degree murder charge.
