Texas mortuary owner convicted of leaving bodies to rot

Instead, eight decomposing bodies were found inside the Johnson Family Mortuary a year ago.

A Tarrant County jury took less than an hour to find 41-year-old Dondre Johnson guilty of theft, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I wasn’t there but that’s my brother and we’re both Christians and I’m doing what Jesus would do and still show love in spite of everything”.

Johnson of Arlington will likely have to serve most of his state jail sentence, as sentence reductions are rarely granted to those sentenced to state jail, a court official said. And he didn’t appear to show much emotion as victims’ families poured their hearts out.

“You preyed on the weak, you preyed on the grieving, how dare you do your people and your church like that”, said Michelle Jones. “She’s the one who signs the leases”. She’s the one who pays the bills.

“You hurt us so bad but I want you to know that we forgive you”, Braxton said from the witness stand. “We just want to know where our mother’s remains are”. “Some days are just hard to face”.

“This case was about greed”, said prosecutor Sid Mody. It was the maximum the jury could have given Johnson. He faces up to two years in state jail. Investigators who later went through the mortuary found several bodies in advanced stages of decomposition, with some remains hard to identify. The jury also sentenced Johnson to a %2410,000 fine on each charge. He says Dondre’s biggest issue is he should’ve called the police on his wife.

“It’s always disappointing”, Kim said.

The Johnson Family Mortuary closed in mid-2014 due to nonpayment of rent.

Later when speaking with the media she pleaded for the public’s help in finding her mother’s ashes.

And as Johnson heads to jail, they’re left searching for those loved ones- and for closure- on their own. No dates have been set for those trials.

Johnson, who did not testify, left the running of the mortuary to his wife, co-owner Rachel Hardy-Johnson, according to his attorneys.

During the trial Johnson claimed he didn’t mean to mislead anyone and his attorneys blamed his wife, saying she was the owner and operator of the business.

Kim still represents Johnson on the seven misdemeanor charges of abuse of a corpse, but at this time it’s unclear if and when the DA’s office may pursue those lesser charges.