- FEMALE NARRATOR: With wedding bells on the horizon,
life never looked better for this Southern belle.
- She was so pleasant, so outgoing.
She was just beautiful. Just a good all-around person.
She had finally found the true love of her life
and she was happy.
- They planned to live a good life together.
- NARRATOR: But when a brutal crime is discovered,
the plans for their bright future are destroyed.
- I could see the body in a bathtub.
She had multiple stab wounds on her neck.
She was attacked by somebody that was very angry.
- NARRATOR: The ensuing investigation
uncovers an obsession driven by jealousy.
- It's kind of a shocker when you hear a spouse call in
and say, "I think my spouse may have killed somebody."
- She said, "I'll kill you for [bleep] my husband."
- I believe he's worried that he was going to be next.
- NARRATOR: When the killer's motive comes to light,
so too does a window into a dark mind.
- It's just starting to paint a picture of obsession.
- This just shook me to my core.
It's just unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
- *
- NARRATOR: Rowan County, North Carolina,
nestled between Charlotte and Greensboro,
the fast-growing city of Kannapolis
is renowned for textiles.
- Kannapolis is a growing town.
There's you know a lot of different businesses
coming in and out.
- It's kind of a quiet, family-based community.
Upper-middle-class homes, um, within eyeshot of each other.
- It's not the kind of neighborhood you would expect
to find violent crime.
- NARRATOR: On July 23, 2013, at 9:40AM,
a 911 call upends the otherwise calm Tuesday morning.
The caller, 59-year-old Chuck Reeves,
is in dire need of help for his fiancée,
62-year-old Shirley Pierce.
- He seen blood and what he thought was powder on the floor
and went to the bathroom and found his girlfriend
in the bathtub with the water running over her body.
- Chuck did report that she was in the bathtub motionless
and there was blood everywhere.
Shirley wasn't breathing.
- He realized that she was already gone.
There wasn't nothing he could do for her.
- NARRATOR: When police arrive,
they are immediately led to the main bedroom.
- The house is just really quiet.
Nice house, kind of eerie feeling when you walk in.
I could smell an odor of bleach.
When I entered the bedroom, I can see a lot of blood
on the floor, blood stains.
The blood stains continued across the floor.
- It appeared that the scene was attempted to be cleaned up
with bleach, which created some, you know, bleaching patterns
in the carpet and back into the bathroom.
- There was a path that went from a bedroom
into this bathroom.
- NARRATOR: Once in the bathroom,
they're met with a ferocious scene.
- I could see the body of Shirley Pierce
laying in the bathtub.
I could tell that Shirley was attacked with a sharp object.
She had multiple stab wounds on her neck, her face.
- It's not an accidental death. It's clearly a homicide.
- NARRATOR: With the crime scene
in the early stages of processing,
detectives turn to their only witness,
Shirley's boyfriend, Chuck Reeves.
- I was able to introduce myself to Chuck Reeves
who was on the scene and asked him to, um,
to sit and talk to me for a moment.
Chuck's demeanor was devastated.
However, he was very cooperative and he was very articulate.
He was able to provide good information.
What we learned about Shirley Pierce was that
she appeared to be just a good, decent, working person.
There didn't appear to be anything at that point
to determine who would want to do something like this to her.
- NARRATOR: Born and raised in Mooresville, North Carolina,
Shirley Goodnight was a ray of sunshine
in a region known for its Southern hospitality.
- She was very close to her family, her sisters.
She had a brother.
She was so pleasant, so outgoing.
She was just beautiful, just a good all-around person.
- Everybody loved Shirley. She was a very friendly woman.
She was, um, well liked in her community
as well, uh, as at her job.
And people who knew her remarked how beautiful she was.
- NARRATOR: In 1970, Shirley married, Randall Pierce.
And the couple welcomed a daughter, Tracy, soon after.
- Tracy being her only daughter, only child,
she just adored Tracy.
- NARRATOR: When Shirley and her husband split in 1981,
Shirley looked for a way to support herself
and eventually signed on with the Tuscarora Yarn Factory.
- Tuscarora Yarns was a textile company.
They made specialty yarns.
I was in the accounting department, and she came in
as the owner's and the CEO's, uh, administrative assistant.
- Shirley was a very dainty, well-dressed,
very well-spoken lady.
She was very professional.
- Shirley and I were just really good work friends.
We spent a lot of the day together working
and we went to lunch most every day.
We would go shopping some after hours
or just go to dinner with each other.
- She worked long hours and worked hard at the company.
I think anybody been glad to have her work for them.
- NARRATOR: Shirley put what free time she did have
to good use, organizing golf tournaments and gala dinners
for several local charities.
- She was involved in a charitable organization, uh,
raised money for, uh, people with,
uh, traumatic brain injuries.
- That speaks to the character of a person that cares
about other folks like that.
Shirley had a very big heart.
- When Shirley's daughter, Tracy,
became a mother to a little boy,
being a grandmother sent Shirley over the moon.
- He was the apple of her eye.
That's what she talked about the most.
Anybody that knew her will always know about
her grandson and Tracy, because she told everyone about them.
- NARRATOR: By 2013, with her family growing
and her career flourishing, Shirley was looking to hit the
trifecta in her romantic life.
When she began dating, textile salesmen Chuck Reeves,
it appeared she had done just that.
- He had known her for a while because he was a salesman
and she was the president's secretary at Tuscarora Yarns,
so he had met her through, through that
and the relationship turned into a- a dating one.
- Chuck and Shirley had a relationship,
kind of later in life. They had a good relationship.
Uh, they got along really well.
Chuck loved her and then you know Shirley loved him.
- NARRATOR: The pair dated for four and a half years,
but kept separate residences.
In the spring of 2013,
Chuck proposed to Shirley and she happily accepted.
- She had finally found the true love of her life
and she was happy.
- NARRATOR: Sadly, Shirley would never make it to the altar.
On the morning of July 23, 2013, Rowan County investigators
are processing a horrific crime scene
where Shirley Pierce has been found murdered.
- It appeared she had been stabbed multiple times,
just from looking at the body.
We knew were looking for a knife,
very violent attack.
She put up a fight, so we had defensive wounds
and the fatal wound was probably in the neck.
There's a lot of blood,
blood had, uh, dripped from the, uh, ceiling fan.
There was a large blood pool on the floor.
It was a very violent crime scene.
- NARRATOR: Despite the vicious crime scene,
the killer took care to hide their identity.
- We noticed the bleach stains on the carpet.
It's well-known that bleach, destroys DNA.
We have a someone who went to a lot of trouble to try
to destroy evidence, so our killer, whoever it was,
was aware of a lot of the techniques we were going to use
the try to catch him as far as DNA.
I felt good we had DNA in the house.
We just had to find it.
We felt like the shower curtain was going to be important,
so we processed all the way up to the shower curtain
leaving it in place until we got, um,
Shirley out of the crime scene
and to the medical examiner's office.
Then we decided to send the whole shower curtain
to the state lab.
- NARRATOR: The intensity of the crime
suggests to investigators
that this was a deeply, personal attack.
- There did not appear to be any forced entry,
and it didn't appear to be ransacked
like a typical burglary would ransack a home.
- She was attacked by somebody that was very angry.
It was almost overkill, which didn't match up
to somebody breaking into the house to steal her, you know,
computer or something.
- That again brought alarm to somebody very close to her,
somebody who would have the ability to enter the house.
So that becomes very, big red flag back toward Chuck Reeves.
This is exactly who we need to focus on first.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
Do investigators have their man?
- He actually threatened to stab her with a screwdriver.
- NARRATOR: Or had a ghost from Shirley's past
carried out a vendetta?
- Tracy talked about him threatening to kill Shirley.
- NARRATOR: July 23, 2013, homicide investigators with the
Rowan County Sheriff's Office turn to Shirley Pierce's fiancé,
Chuck Reeves who found her bloody body in her bathroom.
- It was obvious that he was distraught and torn up.
They'd planned to live a good life together.
Now he is- here he is having to report this horrible scene.
- I asked Chuck when was the last time he had, um,
spoken to Shirley?
And he said he spoke to her by phone, the night prior,
and I believe that time was around 8:15 PM.
She was gonna dog sit for him while he traveled out of town
as he frequently did for his job.
He spoke to Shirley,
made arrangements for the next day to bring the dog by.
- NARRATOR: Chuck says that in the middle of the call,
the phone suddenly went dead.
- The call ended and he didn't make contact with her again.
That wasn't unusual.
In that area of Kannapolis, cell phone service is spotty.
- NARRATOR: While he wasn't alarmed by the dropped call,
when he arrived at Shirley's house the next morning,
Chuck had an eerie feeling.
- Shirley was expecting Chuck to arrive.
She knew he was coming.
He talked to her the night before on the phone,
so when he arrived the garage door is open,
the door was locked. That was unusual.
- He retrieved a key from a vase or a flower bed
just to the left of the doorway.
And he let himself in with that key.
He heard the shower running.
He looks in there and he saw Shirley in the tub
with the water running and he approached her.
He saw where she was beyond help.
- NARRATOR: Chuck's story is consistent
with the scene so far,
but police tread carefully before clearing him.
- I'm listening to every single word.
I'm analyzing everything he says.
I'm trying to find inconsistencies in his story.
Eventually, I asked Chuck directly if he had
anything to do with Shirley and he adamantly denied it.
He said his relationship with Shirley was a very good one.
Everything's going well.
Why would he murder the woman that he was engaged to
and appeared to be very happy with?
- His alibi, his story was that he was out of town
and wasn't even in the area.
He claimed he was at work in South Carolina.
- NARRATOR: While detectives confirm
Chuck's alibi with his employer,
they also look for a telltale clue on his hands.
- Anytime somebody assaults somebody with a knife,
generally the assailant is also cut by that knife,
and there will be, uh, injuries to their hands.
- I asked Chuck, I need to look and see
if he had any injuries on him. He readily showed me everything.
He showed me his arms. He didn't have a scratch on him.
- NARRATOR: What's more, Chuck's alibi holds up.
- So in order to clear Chuck,
we were able to contact his employer to determine that
he was in fact, working out of town during that time period.
- Mr. Reeves was able to fairly quickly
be put to the side as a suspect
based on the information he was able to provide.
- NARRATOR: As detectives wrap up their interview with Chuck,
Shirley's daughter arrives at the tragic scene.
- Tracy and Shirley had a great relationship.
They got along really well.
Shirley was Tracy's support system.
She was devastated to find out her mother was killed.
- She was very distraught.
Tracy, understandably, was having a very hard time
that her mother had been murdered.
- NARRATOR: With Chuck Reeves cleared of any involvement,
detectives ask Tracy if she can think of anyone
who would wish harm to her mother.
- We talked to her at the scene,
trying to get background on Shirley, her habits.
Anybody Tracy may know
that would want to hurt or kill Shirley.
Tracy talked about Richard, Shirley's ex-boyfriend.
- NARRATOR: Tracy explains that 10 years ago, her mother was
in a troubled relationship with a man named Richard.
- Tracy told us about how Richard had been abusive
towards Shirley and then the relationship had ended.
- The information that we learned was that
several years ago, Shirley had in fact,
obtained a restraining order against Richard.
- NARRATOR: According to Tracy, the restraining order
had been put in place after Richard showed up
at her mother's home one night looking for Shirley.
- Tracy told us about Richard threatening to kill Shirley,
and it- actually threatened to stab her with a screwdriver.
- NARRATOR: Tracy says after her mom filed the restraining order,
Richard left town, but after nearly 10 years of silence,
Richard had recently attempted to contact Shirley.
- We believed he was back in the area
and had reached out to Shirley maybe six months prior
and was trying to contact her again.
Immediately, he is my lead suspect.
- Tracy wanted Richard really looked at.
Domestic relationships often end in homicide,
so we're going to have to explore him
a lot more thoroughly.
- NARRATOR: Detectives prioritize locating Richard
and quickly get a hit on Richard's place of employment,
a mere 15 minute drive from Shirley's home.
- We'd actually found Richard at a local pawn shop nearby
and I spoke to Richard.
- NARRATOR: Detectives start off the interview
by disclosing Shirley's murder.
- Richard was shocked by the news that Shirley was dead.
Seemed very legit.
- He characterized the relationship with Shirley
as ending 10 years prior.
- Richard was asked about the past abuse that he was
accused of, and he said that the law enforcement did come.
And he said that eventually charges was dropped
and Shirley apologized to him. I guess for having him arrested.
- NARRATOR: As for the night of the murder,
Richard claims he had come home
after working a 9AM to 6PM shift.
- Richard said that he had come home, did not leave home,
had gone to bed about 9:00 pm.
- Richard lived by himself so there's nobody to confirm it.
- NARRATOR: Detectives again look for signs of foul play
by inspecting Richard's hands.
- There was no injuries on his hands or arms,
which would indicate, that he may not have been present
during that assault.
- NARRATOR: There's another reason Richard doesn't appear
to be their man.
- He's not in the best of shape.
He had some kind of health problem.
He was barely walking.
One of my detectives actually felt Richard
was physically incapable of committing the crime.
They didn't feel like he was our suspect either.
- NARRATOR: Hours into the investigation,
detectives have exhausted their most promising leads.
But when they receive a disturbing phone call
from one of Shirley's coworkers, the case takes a sharp turn.
- I got a call that somebody had called into the 911 center
and wanted to talk to someone
because he believed his wife had killed someone.
- NARRATOR: Detectives get a number for the caller
and immediately follow up.
- I called that number. It was Ervin Johnson.
And Ervin Johnson was the CFO at Tuscarora Yarns.
Shirley Pierce was the executive secretary for Tuscarora Yarns.
Well, Mr. Johnson was highly agitated,
very difficult to talk to.
- NARRATOR: When detectives inform him that
they have just left the scene of Shirley Pierce's murder,
Ervin Johnson breaks down over the death of his coworker.
- Immediately, he believes that Marlene Johnson, his wife,
is the one responsible because, for years, Marlene Johnson
seemed to be obsessed with Shirley Pierce.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
With a new suspect revealed,
investigators uncover a potentially deadly motive.
- It was like that was her daily mission,
to wake up and figure out what she could do that day
to stalk Shirley.
- NARRATOR: And a physical altercation
points to a deeply held grudge.
- She had a hold of her hair and was just slamming her around.
- NARRATOR: Hours into the murder investigation
of 62-year-old Shirley Pierce, detectives receive a shocking
tip from one of Shirley's coworkers, Ervin Johnson.
And he is certain that his own wife,
61-year-old, Marlene Johnson is involved.
- It's kind of a shocker when you hear a spouse call in
and say, "I think my spouse may have killed somebody."
That is just, uh, that's not really heard of.
- Ervin Johnson agreed to talk to us in an interview.
And at the office, he began to lay out the history
of his and Marlene's marriage.
- NARRATOR: Born into a wealthy family in 1952,
Marlene Postell grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina.
- She did have some family in Gastonia
who were in the restaurant business.
- She wasn't used to not getting her way.
You could tell that.
You could tell that she was not used to somebody telling her no.
- She didn't hurt for anything.
This is a woman who is very professional.
She's dressed to the nines. She speaks very eloquently.
Marlene just oozed that she had nice things.
- NARRATOR: With her refined exterior,
Marlene had always turned heads.
- She was probably 5.5, very slender, muscular
in very good shape.
She just was groomed exceedingly well.
It- it just stuck out.
- NARRATOR: On May 15, 1983, 31-year-old Marlene
married 36-year-old, Ervin Johnson.
The pair complemented each other well,
Ervin with his quiet, reserved nature
and Marlene with her intimidating presence.
- He would speak when spoken to.
It wasn't like he was, a socially outward individual.
He really wasn't, and, um,
he appeared to be the guy who went along with the group,
went to work, went home after work,
and came back the next day and did the whole thing over again.
- NARRATOR: For over two decades,
the couple had a happy and prosperous life.
- They did have, uh, one daughter together.
Ervin Johnson made a-a very nice salary.
Marlene did not work outside the home.
- I believe that Marlene's money came from an inheritance.
- She took a great interest in his business, in his life,
in his personal matters, obviously.
She had friends.
- NARRATOR: Then, for reasons Ervin can't explain,
something in Marlene changed...
Ervin tells police that in 2003,
Marlene suffered a sudden nervous breakdown
and had tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills.
- We did learn of a nervous breakdown that she had in 2003
in which she, um, she was treated for that.
He said she never fully recovered or went back to being
the same person that she was.
She was always very intense, very aggressive,
very difficult to live with from that point on.
- She was not in her right frame of mind, it seemed like.
It seemed like she was very erratic.
- And she had threatened to kill him.
She had assaulted him.
During the interview with Ervin Johnson,
he was able to point out a- a scar,
um where Marlene had stabbed him, uh, previously.
- NARRATOR: Ervin says that Marlene had also become
obsessed with the idea that he was having an affair.
Ervin tried to alleviate Marlene's fears,
but doing so only heightened her suspicions.
- He said, "Marlene is a person who is driven by ego,
by, just a jealousy, a possessive person."
- She had caused many issues at every job that he worked at.
She would always target the single women
that were not married, and she would get this story in her head
that they were having an affair with him.
- NARRATOR: Ervin adds that when he took the job
as CFO of Tuscarora Yarns in 2006,
Marlene's suspicions had turned to well-liked
administrative assistant, Shirley Pierce.
- He characterized Shirley as a Southern lady.
And when he introduced his wife to Shirley,
she called him honey and touched his arm.
And Ervin said, "I saw Marlene's antenna go up."
- Marlene Johnson just dialed right in
that this was an affair, it was going on, and she was jealous,
and not happy about it.
- NARRATOR: Ervin says that for the next several years,
Marlene became completely fixated on Shirley Pierce,
even going so far as to hire a private investigator.
- Marlene hired me on September 12, 2010,
and our agreement was that we would surveil him for a month.
I could not get any proof that any wrongdoing was going on,
on either of their parts.
- NARRATOR: But even with no proof of infidelity,
Marlene refused to accept the truth.
And her obsession intensified.
- Marlene would get more and more bizarre
and ask more things of me that were very unethical.
She had hired another PI firm, and I learned that the firm
was using drones and was getting her aerial views
of Shirley's residence.
She supposedly knew when she went to the grocery store,
when she came back.
She knew what time she was getting home from work,
and she knew that this garage door was open so far.
She just got to the point where she scared me,
and I'm not a person that scares easily because
I work capital murder cases, but she scared me.
- There was no convincing her.
No matter if she had all the evidence in the world
to show her there was no affair,
I don't think that her mind would have believed that.
- NARRATOR: Ervin tells detectives
that the less Marlene found, the more she became unhinged.
And her interactions with Shirley intensified.
But Shirley, knowing full well Marlene was watching her,
didn't realize how dangerous the situation was becoming.
- Shirley never seemed to be scared because
she knew she was doing nothing wrong,
and so she just assumed nothing would ever come of it.
- NARRATOR: According to Ervin, in 2011,
Marlene's paranoia finally boiled over.
- There was an incident involving, uh, Marlene Johnson,
uh, where she showed up at a restaurant
that Shirley and a few of her coworkers were having lunch.
- Ervin and Shirley would come in with the Tuscarora Yarn Group
every Friday for lunch.
And I got to know them from being their regular waitress,
so they come in for their lunch as always.
Marlene arrives.
She's dressed in black, kinda workout clothes that day,
and she has a hat on.
- Marlene Johnson held a menu in front of her face
to try to shield her identity. It didn't work very well.
- I knew that it was her, and I immediately went and told them,
the Tuscarora Group that, you know,
Marlene was in the restaurant.
They panicked, because everybody knew
she had it out for Miss Shirley.
- NARRATOR: Ervin says that his fellow employees
tried to form a protective circle around Shirley
to get her out to her car, but it wasn't enough.
- I'm just sitting at the restaurant having lunch,
kinda daydreaming out the window,
just looking out the window and Marlene was a gazelle.
She just came across that parking lot and I mean,
she was on Shirley's back.
She had a hold of her hair and was just slamming her around.
- She said, "I'll kill you for [bleep] my husband."
It was just unexpected chaos.
But it was kind of quick and over with pretty fast.
- NARRATOR: Marlene was arrested and charged with assault,
but the case never went to trial.
- Shirley wouldn't press charges against her.
She didn't wanna do that because she didn't wanna
make waves for Ervin.
- Shirley said that she had filed a restraining order,
and that she was hopeful that would take care of the issue.
- NARRATOR: Ervin explains to detectives
that he moved out of the house and got his own
restraining order against Marlene,
but he now fears that with Shirley dead,
he isn't safe either.
- He was maybe a little afraid that she could
retaliate against him as well.
At this point, she was capable of anything.
- He was absolutely sure that Marlene was going to
kill him next. He was in fear of his life.
- NARRATOR: Ervin tells police that they need to speak to a man
named Tim Connor who had become Marlene's confidant.
- Ervin had showed us a picture.
The picture was of Marlene at a restaurant with some guy.
The person in the photograph was Tim Connor.
- At this point, I needed to speak to him
to see what information that he had.
- NARRATOR: Before they track down Tim Connor,
detectives obtain a search warrant for Marlene's home
and put out a BOLO for her vehicle.
It's not long before they find her car
and Marlene as well.
- It was parked at her attorney's office
in downtown Salisbury,
and she was instructed by her attorney to cooperate
with the detectives and to surrender to them at that point.
- NARRATOR: Marlene is arrested and transferred
to the Rowan County Sheriff's Department
to await questioning,
and what investigators find in her car
may provide some answers.
- And when we searched her car in the parking lot,
we found a lot of cleaning supplies in trunk of the car,
which could have been a source of the Clorox stains
that we found at Shirley's house.
- NARRATOR: Following the search of her vehicle,
police execute a search warrant on Marlene's home.
- Once investigators began searching Marlene Johnson's
house, they discover a myriad of things
that point to her as a suspect.
- When I went into the dining room, I found an aerial photo
of Shirley Pierce's house taken from like a Google Maps photo.
- We also found surveillance photographs
she had taken of Shirley.
- There were hours upon hours of work put into it,
a lot of effort, a lot of money.
It's just starting to paint a picture of, um, of obsession.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
Marlene's penchant for outward appearances may be her undoing.
- She had had like a French manicure. Nails done,
and the tips of her nails were missing.
- NARRATOR: But investigators hit one more roadblock.
- The search of his house did reveal that there appeared to be
a knife set and one of the knives from that set
appeared to be missing.
He said, "I haven't been totally honest with you guys."
- NARRATOR: Just before midnight on July 23, 2013,
Marlene Johnson sits in an interview room
at the Rowan County Sheriff's Office,
now the prime suspect
in the brutal slaying of Shirley Pierce.
- She had her sunglasses on. She acted bored, uninvolved.
She was acting the complete opposite way I'd act
if somebody was accusing me of murder.
- She didn't answer any questions
and she just denied any involvement.
And didn't answer any questions at all.
- NARRATOR: While Marlene refuses to talk,
her hands tell detectives everything they need.
- She had had like a French manicure. Nails done
and the tips of her nails were missing.
To me, it was clear that you know, she used her hands
in- in some kind of a situation similar to a fight.
And then the cuts on her hands were consistent with the knife
cutting her fingers as she was stabbing somebody.
- NARRATOR: Between the previous attacks,
her husband's statement,
and physical evidence of a violent altercation,
detectives believe they have enough
to formally charge Marlene Johnson.
- NARRATOR: While officers escort Marlene to her jail cell,
detectives drive out to the home of her friend Tim Connor
who Ervin Johnson told police may have valuable information.
Tim answers the door and agrees to an interview.
- I began to conduct an interview with Mr. Connor.
He actually, was surprisingly, pretty cool and calm about it.
He didn't seem to be distressed or worried, or overly anxious.
He had a pretty good career as a published author
and a motivational speaker.
- I believe uh Marlene met him at a book signing
and they, they hit it off after that.
And he explained that it was just a friendship,
that he did love her, but as a friend.
He had actually stated it wasn't sexual.
- NARRATOR: Tim tells investigators
that the previous day,
he'd had a medical procedure
and afterwards Marlene stayed with him
in the event he experienced any complications.
- He said that he had gotten up two or three times
and that she was there each time
that he had gotten up through the night.
- Basically, he was providing her with a pretty solid alibi
that puts her at his house and not at a murder scene.
- NARRATOR: While Tim seems calm,
detectives are confident Marlene is their killer
which leads them to suspect Tim is not being forthcoming.
- Near the end of that interview,
I knew that he knew more than he was telling us.
- NARRATOR: The next day, July 24th,
investigators receive Shirley's autopsy results
and retrieve a critical clue.
- They actually found a knife blade inside of her neck.
For the knife to go inside and break a kitchen knife,
which is made out of stainless steel,
would require a lot of force.
- The medical examiner determined that this would
have been a painful attack.
That Shirley Pierce would have had to have suffered
from excruciating pain for probably several minutes
before she passed away.
- NARRATOR: While police found no similar cutlery
in Marlene's home, they convince a judge
to let them search the home of Tim Connor on July 25th.
- We're looking for the murder weapon, the broken knife.
The search of Tim's house did reveal
that there was a knife set.
It looked like there was a set of four,
three of them were still there,
and this- this fourth one was missing.
- The knife we recovered from, uh, Shirley was consistent
with the knives that, uh, Tim had in his drawer.
- NARRATOR: Detectives confront Tim with this new evidence
and give him one more chance to come clean.
- The whole time Tim's getting more and more nervous, um,
while we're talking to him.
He acts like he's, uh, very uneasy.
- I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to say.
He kind of sat back in his chair, looked up to the ceiling
and said I haven't been totally honest with you guys.
- NARRATOR: Tim says that although he had spent the day
with Marlene on July 22nd,
they actually hadn't spent the night together
and insists he has no idea why the knife is missing.
Tim tells police that when he met up with Marlene
for breakfast the next morning, she requested an odd favor.
- She was wanting Tim to be her alibi
and, uhm basically say she had been with him all night,
and including the time that Shirley had been murdered.
I think a normal person would think that was weird,
but Tim heard what she was saying
and agreed to go with it because they were such good friends.
- Tim's entire demeanor changed from being cool
and under control to really almost like a groveling person.
He wasn't sure now of Marlene's involvement.
- It was big because her potential alibi
had just dried up.
- We have really her only alibi witness just, um, completely
recanting everything he had just said
about where she would have been the night before.
And I knew at that moment that we, we had our person.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
Does Marlene have a plan to escape justice?
- I was so fearful during this thing
that Marlene was going to get off.
- Marlene made this audible gasp sound
and collapsed onto the floor.
- It takes a really sick, terrible person
to do what she did.
- NARRATOR: In the months after Marlene Johnson's arrest, the
North Carlolina State Crime Lab completes its analysis
of the DNA swabs taken inside Shirley Pierce's home.
- We finally got a hit back putting Marlene Johnson's DNA
on the shower curtain where Shirley was found.
- There is nobody else that would have been able
to commit this crime.
There was no other DNA present that we located other than hers.
- NARRATOR: With the DNA proving
Marlene was at the scene of the crime,
authorities have a clear picture of what happened
on July 22, 2013.
- Shirley been a target of Marlene's obsession for years.
It was a picture of this kind of this dark obsession she had
with Shirley that just progressively had gotten
worse over time.
- She became obsessed with the thought that
Shirley Pierce was having an affair with her husband.
She was so enraged at that thought
that she had to take action.
She was going to do something about it.
- I think Shirley drove into her garage,
got out of her car, went in her house.
And at some point, Marlene snuck in the house behind her.
When Shirley was getting dressed to go to bed
and called Chuck back, she was attacked, brutally,
stabbed multiple times.
She finally succumbed to the attack and died.
And then was drug to the bathtub.
And I think after she put Shirley in the bathtub,
she'd covered her tracks pretty good.
She noticed she had been cut.
So she went and got bleach and poured it on the areas
where she thought she bled at.
And that's why it was so splotchy and all over the house.
- NARRATOR: In January of 2018,
Marlene Johnson stands trial for first-degree murder.
- She was very demure and looked very professional,
the way that she was dressed and just the way that she appeared.
She did not appear to be an enraged, scorned lover.
- She maintained her innocence.
She appeared as if she was untouchable,
that she would not be convicted.
- NARRATOR: But when prosecutors lay out the brutality
of the crime, the defense's only recourse is
to call the evidence into question.
- They're trying to make it look like more could have been done.
And if it had been done, then the blame would have been
pointed at another person.
- There was not a lot the defense attorneys could say
about the physical evidence.
And they couldn't really question that so much.
The physical evidence in the case was very strong.
- I was so fearful during this thing
that Marlene was going to get off some way.
- NARRATOR: On January 24, 2018,
DNA evidence, cuts on her hands, a false alibi,
and an ongoing pattern of harassment towards Shirley,
leads the jury to a speedy verdict.
- As soon as the word guilty came out of the mouth
of the clerk, Marlene made this audible gasp sound
and collapsed onto the floor.
One deputy rushed to her.
A couple of other deputies in the courtroom
also made their way towards Marlene Johnson.
The judge stopped them,
said, "Do not take her out of the courtroom."
- The judge said, "You're going to listen to this verdict."
Then the judge polled the jury
and made each individual juror give their verdict,
12 guilty.
And the judge said, "It is my order that
you will die in prison."
- NARRATOR: Even though Marlene will spend
the rest of her life behind bars,
those involved in her case still can't sleep easy.
- I don't feel like Marlene got what she deserved.
She doesn't deserve to be alive.
She's gonna live off of us
for the rest of her life. Our tax money.
While Shirley, Shirley's life ended.
- This is a person who did absolutely nothing
and yet was stalked, was terrorized,
and then eventually tortured and killed.
- My heart's broken.
Miss Shirley was such a wonderful lady.
And I just feel like she died for no reason at all.
I feel like she died because
of the obsession of Marlene,
that she had in her mind.
- Shirley, her family lost a mother, a grandmother.
Chuck lost his fiancé. And it shouldn't have happened.
- Marlene is a coward.
It takes a really sick, terrible person to do what she did.
- This just shook me to my core.
It's, it's just unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.
- I just miss her as a person, her smile, her laughter.
Just being such a caring person,
would give anybody the shirt off her back.
I just miss our laughs and our good times.
- *