Skip to content
Unsolved homicide

Killing of Catherine Elaine Lawrence-Johnson

Year
1998
Where
Suffolk, Virginia
Source
Virginia State Police
Evidence
1
What the record says

On July 28, 1998, Catherine Elaine Lawrence-Johnson was found in her residence, deceased with a gunshot wound to her head. It was called in as a suicide. Due to the manner of her death and circumstances surrounding it, the incident was investigated as an undetermined death. Later that same afternoon, a fire engulfed her residence, and the home was declared a total loss. The investigation did not produce enough…

From the Virginia State Police cold case database. Records change. The source is the authority.

Where to start

Got ten minutes? Do one of these.

What does the record establish, and what has never been explained?

  • Read the source and write down every date, place and name it gives.
  • Find the earliest news report you can and note what it says that later accounts dropped.
  • List what has never been explained. One line each.

New to this? Read the field guide. Five short lessons.

Coverage and records

What is out there.

Nobody has researched this case yet. Have the AI search the web for reporting, podcasts and videos about it.