Owners of the Johnson Family Mortuary in Fort Worth, Texas have been arrested after their landlord contacted the authorities to report a disturbing nightmarish scene he discovered inside the funeral home. The landlord, James Labenz, entered the facility after evicting the funeral homeowners, Dondre and Rachel Johnson, for failing to pay rent. Inside the vacated building he discovered the rotting corpses of eight victims including one wrapped only in a sheet and left on a coffee table and another that appeared to have “melted” inside a container.
On July 15, 2014, the landlord called authorities to the funeral home located at 1051 Sound Handley Drive. The arrest report shows that the officers immediately identified the smell of decaying flash as they entered the funeral home’s parking lot. Once inside the building, they found several unattended corpses in various stages of decay. Most were infested with insects and fly pupa. One mummified corpse was found in the facility’s garage while another was found in a utility area. Two of the decaying corpses were of children, one of which was skeletonized, the other “melted into a container”. More corpses were found on gurneys in the hallways with bodily fluids draining onto the mortuary floor. A shop vacuum found nearby showed signs of being used to vacuum up bodily fluids that had drained onto the funeral home floor.
The owners were charged with seven counts of abuse of a corpse.
The seven corpses were identified as:
Baby Girl Booker — DOB April 21, 2012 — DOD April 21, 2012
Karen Pearl Jones — DOB Nov. 8, 1958 — DOD March 25, 2014
Helen Jones — DOB Oct. 12, 1943 — DOD April 9, 2014
Boy Desiree Williams — DOB Unknown — DOD May 1, 2014
Deborah Whitney — DOB Unknown — DOD May 11, 2014
Victoria Vasquez — DOB — Aug. 25, 1961 — DOD June 9, 2014
Patricia Baptiste — DOB Unknown — DOD June 30, 2014
A copy of the Rachel Johnson and Dondre Johnson arrest warrant may be viewed here (PDF).
