Mystery in Mississippi

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Huffington Post

Investigators in Horn Lake, Mississippi are working to unravel the mysterious death of 37 year old Jessica Renee Johnson.  Johnson was discovered by a mail carrier on June 2, 2017 beneath a 38 inch mailbox with shoelaces tied around her neck.  Authorities initially called this a suicide, however Jessica's mother, Linda Appleton Johnson strongly disagrees that her daughter would kill herself.  The official coroner's report will not be available for 4-6 months.

The mailbox shown above is the location where Ms. Johnson's body was discovered.   How is it possible for a person to hang themselves from a 38 inch tall mailbox?  I suppose it's possible, but is it likely?  This is one of the many questions that will need to be answered during this investigation.  Johnson's mother says she last saw Jessica on May 31 when she left to spend a few days with her off again, on again boyfriend.  The pair spoke by FaceTime on June 1 when Jessica indicated she would be coming home and she never made it home.  Her body was discovered on June 2 by the mail carrier in front of a house Jessica and her boyfriend were visiting.  What is the connection here?

It seems like law enforcement has a lot of questions to answer before they can say this was a suicide.  The initial cause of death was "ligature strangulation" and some people close to the case believe the whole death scene was staged and Johnson was killed elsewhere before being placed at the mailbox. It has also been noted that injuries to Johnson's body were observed while she was being prepared for the funeral - injuries that did not appear to be self inflicted.  There were marks on her arms and what appeared to be a footprint indented into her arm.  It also looked like she had been injected with something.  All of these things seem to appear to point to homicide and not suicide. 

Johnson's mother believes her daughters past struggles with drug addiction have caused authorities to write this off as a suicide.  Linda Johnson continues to press law enforcement to look into her daughters death.  She has contacted the family of another Horn Lake woman who died under similar circumstances and was said to be friends with Jessica's boyfriend.  That sounds like too big of a coincidence to ignore.

Jessica Renee Johnson was mother to an 8 year old daughter and 19 year old son.  This family deserves answers, and I certainly hope they don't have to wait the 4-6 months for the official coroner's report to move forward in this investigation.  If this death is listed as a suicide, law enforcement will not have the ability to investigate anything further.  It would seem that common sense tells you this woman did not hang herself from that mailbox!  I think we will be hearing more about this story in the months to come