Man Decapitated His Mother With His Teeth
Sherry Johnson, a guidance counselor at Hattiesburg High School, was found dead in her backyard in Stone County, Missouri, on June 6th. The day after his mother’s body was found, Terrelle Johnson, a 29-year-old army veteran, confessed to killing his mother.
Terrelle was brought into Stony County Courthouse on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing, where the horrifying details about the murder came to light. Terrelle apparently got into a fight with his mother regarding credit cards, who tried to walk away but the argument escalated into a fight. Terrelle said he choked his mother until she stopped breathing and then got a butter knife and use it, along with his teeth, to decapitate his mother.
Sherry’s body was found in her backyard on June 6th, after deputies went to check on her at the request of a relative. Sherry’s body was found near a fence, whilst her head sat some 15-feet away from her body. A preliminary autopsy revealed that Sherry died from blows to the head, and had been dead for several days before her body was found.
Sherry was last seen in church on June 3rd, but Sherry’s sister and two brothers requested for law enforcement to check on her. Terrelle had said she was away on a cruise, however authorities did not believe him. Upon arriving at the residence, Captain Ray Boggs said Terrelle was sitting on the porch, who then led Boggs and two other deputies into the house. “When I entered the bedroom,” Boggs said, “I immediately noticed blood everywhere.”
Jim Davis, Terrelle’s attorney, has said that it is too early in the case to comment whether he’ll be using an insanity defense for Terrelle. “I’ve handled numerous insanity cases,” Davis said, adding “trust me, jurors don’t like them, so you better have a very strong one.”
Davis wants to find out why Terrelle killed and decapitated his mother, saying “I think there’s a why behind that. I think trying to determine the why is very important.“
