Friend Says Prominent Mich. Lawyer’s Slaying More Than a ‘Conventional Stabbing’
Updated: The wife of a prominent Michigan lawyer has been charged in his death after authorities seized scalpels and what may be refrigerated human tissue from their home.
The lawyer, Lloyd Johnson, had practiced law at his home on a once-quiet suburban street in Farmington Hills after leaving Geoffrey Fieger’s law firm in 2009. His wife, Laura Johnson, called police Monday to report her 47-year-old husband had suffered a heart attack, according to stories posted Thursday and Friday by the Detroit Free Press. He died two days later.
Police searched the home and seized scalpels, possible human tissue in the refrigerator, bloody sheets and a dead dog, the stories say. Laura Johnson was charged on Friday with second-degree murder, an alternate charge of manslaughter, and unauthorized practice of medicine, the Detroit News reports.
Lloyd Johnson had told his wife last weekend that he wanted to divorce, according to family friend and lawyer Brian Dailey, who spoke at a news conference on Thursday.
“This is something that is more than just a conventional stabbing,” he said. “I don’t believe it was a stabbing. I believe it was something else.”
Dailey cited reports that Lloyd Johnson had been experiencing nausea for some time, and said police are testing the dog.
Laura Johnson was “sobbing and disheveled” during her arraignment on Friday, the Detroit News story says. She pledged to “help catch the real people who did this” and said she wanted to attend her husband’s funeral.
Updated at 11 a.m. to include information about charges in the case.
