A Lithonia man has been convicted of a fatal shooting with an AR-15 rifle before trying to hide the evidence by burning vehicles and using a hose to wash away the victim’s blood, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Earnest Lee Johnson, 28, was found guilty of murder Friday in the death of 23-year-old Chanceler McCall, whose body was found in the DeKalb County woods near I-20 about a year after he was killed on Dec. 28, 2020, according to the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office.
DeKalb police had responded around 6 p.m. that day after getting a call about a person shot in the 5000 block of Donnell Way in unincorporated Decatur, where Johnson lived, authorities said. At the scene, officers noticed a pool of blood in the road and several shell casings, but couldn’t find a victim.
“The pool of blood appeared as though someone had tried to wash it away,” the DA’s Office said. “Officers found a hose laying in the front yard of a nearby home dripping water.”
Nearby, Johnson’s Pontiac G6 was parked on the street, while two vehicles were in the driveway, including a Kia Soul that was riddled with bullets, according to prosecutors. Witnesses said they saw two men put a body in the back of a dark-colored sedan before driving away, according to the DA’s Office.
On Dec. 31, 2020, a few days after the killing, McCall’s mother called police to report him missing. She said he had been driving a maroon Dodge Challenger and was in an ongoing dispute with Johnson, the DA’s Office said. According to an arrest warrant, she told investigators he visited the residence on Donnell Way to discuss a debt he owed.
It was the last place he was seen, police said.
According to prosecutors, the woman allowed investigators to take a DNA sample, which helped them determine that the blood found at the crime scene was a match for her son.
Police later determined that the Challenger had been abandoned and burned about a mile and a half away on Dec. 29, 2020, the same day Johnson’s Pontiac caught on fire behind a Conyers shopping center. Prosecutors said an accelerant was found in the front seat.
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
Johnson was arrested March 10, 2021, while another suspect was arrested a day later on murder and kidnapping charges that were ultimately dropped, DA’s Office spokeswoman Claire Chaffins confirmed. The other suspect was his friend who lived on the same block in the Miller Oaks Estates subdivision, the warrant stated.
“The state did not believe the case against (the other suspect) could be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt,” Chaffins said.
On Dec. 16, 2021, McCall’s body was found by GBI agents and deputies off the Newborn Road exit of I-20 in Morgan County. The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office analyzed the remains and determined them to be McCall’s on Jan. 4, 2022, officials said.
According to a charging affidavit, McCall’s phone pinged at Johnson’s house around the time of the shooting. After searching Johnson’s home, investigators found an AR-15 under his mattress that matched the shell casings, authorities said.
“Additionally, defendant Johnson’s internet history revealed he had searched ‘self-defense definition,’ ‘malice aforethought,’ ‘manslaughter,’ ‘homicide,’ and other similar phrases in the days leading up to the crime,” prosecutors said.
Johnson was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping, second-degree arson, concealing the death of another and aggravated assault, prosecutors said.
The trial was presided over by Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie, who will schedule the sentencing hearing “in the coming weeks,” the DA’s office said.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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