St. Germain man facing 1st degree intentional homicide, could serve life in prison

A St. Germain man accused of first-degree intentional homicide made his initial court appearance Monday.

Vilas County judge Daniel Overbey set a $1 million cash bond for 56-year-old James Johnson, according to court records, with conditions not to have contact with two individuals who made contact with law enforcement during the investigation, not to visit the address where officers identified the deceased and to have a GPS monitoring device fitted upon release.

According to a criminal complaint filed on Monday, Vilas County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call at a residence in the town of St. Germain off of State Highway 70 at approximately 10:30 p.m. on March 21. 

The caller, according to the complaint, said she arrived at her sister’s home to find that she was outside in front of the house unresponsive, cold to the touch and covered in blood. While the name of the victim wasn’t included in the complaint, according to a press release issued last week by Vilas County chief deputy Patrick Schmidt, 61-year-old Kelly Johnson was identified as the deceased.

When law enforcement officers arrived on scene, the complaint says they saw the body of an adult woman lying on her back with her feet propped up on the step of the front porch, wrapped in a blanket and a yellow extension cord wrapped around her legs. 

Law enforcement officers tended to the woman to perform chest compressions, the complaint says, but in doing so, one of the deputies observed stab wounds across the victim’s back and lower left side. According to the complaint, the deputy also observed blood on the woman’s head.

The deputy informed dispatch the victim was deceased at nearly 11 p.m., the complaint says. 

Another sheriff’s deputy arrived at the scene and the law enforcement officers entered the residence. Inside, investigators observed a couch covered in blood, more blood on the floor and blood on the kitchen table. Investigators noted no one was found in the residence at the time. 

The woman who reported the condition of her sister told investigators they lived at the house with their brother, Johnson. 

Johnson, law enforcement found out, was the registered owner of a black Chevrolet Impala. 

A neighbor who was questioned by investigators, said they saw the victim and Johnson earlier that day and roughly two hours before law enforcement’s arrival, heard someone leaving in the Impala, which was recognized due to a loud muffler. 

The medical examiner arrived on scene next, according to the complaint, and observed “multiple sharp-force puncture wounds.”

The complaint says investigators took the victim’s and defendant’s sister, the caller, to a nearby hotel for further questioning. Another one of the caller’s siblings, who works at the hotel, unlocked the doors. 

While questioning the caller, law enforcement noticed a vehicle driven by the hotel’s side doors that matched the description of the suspect’s vehicle. The vehicle, the complaint says, proceeded west on Hwy. 70. 

The vehicle returned, as the caller’s sibling who worked at the hotel saw the headlights “in an area behind the hotel’s maintenance building and dumpster.” According to a summary of the complaint, further investigation showed Johnson was one time employed by the hotel as well. 

Investigators were notified of the vehicle’s presence and approached it while it was parked with the engine running but headlights turned off. Johnson was found in the driver’s seat, detained and taken into the Vilas County Sheriff’s Office. 

A number of items were recovered from the nearby dumpster, according to the complaint, which seemed to be of evidentiary value: the victim’s driver’s license, multiple prescription containers with the names of the victim and the victim’s and suspect’s mother on them, a gray T-shirt with red stain, a pair of jeans with red stain, black hiking boots, two pink socks with red stain, a purse with identification of the victim and the victim’s sister — the caller — and two Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans with red stain. 

In Johnson’s vehicle, the complaint says, investigators found a “black and silver carving knife and a pair of gloves.” The knife, according to the complaint, is nine-inches long.

During a subsequent interview with a sheriff’s deputy and an investigator from the Department of Justice’s Division of Special Investigations, Johnson said he had just moved into the residence with both of his sisters that day after being hospitalized for the two weeks prior to that. 

The complaint says Johnson told investigators he let his sister, the victim, drive his vehicle while he was in the hospital.

Johnson said his sister left him with an empty gas tank and “somehow drained his bank account.”

The defendant then told investigators he waited for his sister to fall asleep on the couch and used the knife against her. Johnson’s description of the knife matched the description of the knife investigators found in his vehicle. 

Johnson, the complaint says, said he tried to drag his sister’s body from the house to eventually hide it. Except he was unable to do that and instead collected her personal belongings to dispose of in the meantime. 

After further examination of the victim’s body, a March 24 autopsy showed there to be nearly 30 “stab wounds and lacerations.”

Johnson, if convicted, faces life in prison and because of the use of a dangerous weapon, that sentence could be increased by not more than five years. 

His next court appearance is an adjourned initial appearance scheduled for March 31 at 9:45 a.m.

Johnson is a 1987 Lakeland Union High School graduate and is no stranger to the legal system. 

He was released in 2022 after serving 24 years in prison for a 1998 armed robbery of a Clark Gas Station in Minocqua. According to court records, he was also found guilty due to plea on a first time operating while intoxicated offense and three other charges dismissed by the state; including operating with a prohibited blood alcohol concentration, failure to keep vehicle under control and possessing open intoxicants as a driver in December of 2022 and January of 2023.

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].