The tragic case of Johnny and Lisa
Maytee tried to contact her son.
All twenty of her calls went unanswered. She knew something was wrong. So she went to her son’s girlfriend’s house.
After peeping through one of the windows, she was struck by what she saw inside.
All Maytee could do was call 911.
Dispatcher: 911. What’s your emergency?
Maytee: Oh my God! You need to get the police out to Long Acre Lane. My son is in the basement tied up in this house.
I just saw him through the window.
The police were out here earlier and did absolutely nothing. Him and his girlfriend are tied up in the basement(kitchen).
Dispatcher: Ok. Alright. We’ll get them out there.
Maytee: Get the cops out here! I told them earlier and they wouldn’t listen to me!
Dispatcher: Ok ma’am you need to calm down. We’ll get them out there but yelling at me is not…
Maytee: This is my son. They’re unconscious. They’re unconscious, ma’am! He only has pants on! And their hands are tied!
Johnny and Lisa Started Dating as Teenagers
Johnny Clarke and Lisa Straub made their relationship official one summer when they were teenagers.
Lisa had just graduated from high school. She started working part-time at a restaurant. Meanwhile, she took college courses.
On the other hand, Johnny trained to become a barber.
Lisa lived with her parents on Long Acre Lane in Holland, Ohio. Johnny soon moved in with Lisa in her parents’ home. Then Lisa’s parents went on a vacation for their wedding anniversary.
So Johnny and Lisa had the house to themselves for an extended period. On January 30th, 2012, Johnny and Lisa made plans to invite some friends over and hang out for the night.
They invited two of their friends, Zack Burkett and Tiffany Williams.
Johnny then picked up Lisa from her restaurant job. The couple made it safely home.
Johnny Didn’t Pick up Tiffany And Zack
Johnny was also supposed to pick up Tiffany and Zack, but he never showed up. So Tiffany rang up Johnny. Johnny answered his phone after a few rings.
Tiffany then heard Johnny confronting another person on the other end. Johnny stated in a pissed tone;
“Bro, what are you doing? Who the hell are you?”
Johnny told Tiffany that he was going to call her back. Then he hung up. Tiffany unsuccessfully tried to reach Johnny and Lisa after he hung up. She grew concerned for the couple.
So she called Johnny’s mother, Maytee Clarke. Tiffany told Maytee that she was worried about Johnny. Maytee then tried to call Johnny twenty times. But Johnny never picked up.
So Maytee called the police for the first time.
She requested a welfare check on her son. The authorities dispatched a police officer to the Straub residence.
But the police officer found nothing suspicious around the house. And he left.
Tiffany and Zack Passed by the Straub Residence
Meanwhile, Tiffany and Zack went to the Straub house to check on Johnny and Lisa.
Tiffany knocked on the Straub’s front door. She also rang the doorbell. But no one answered. Tiffany and Zack then left. Neither of them called the police because they thought that Johnny and Lisa had drugs in the house.
They didn’t want to get them in trouble.
Maytee called the police for a second time. She was extremely worried for her son and his girlfriend. She believed they were abducted.
The authorities sent out a police officer to the Straub residence. But the police officer just looked around, and nothing appeared to be out of place.
He left.
Maytee Took Matters Into Her Own Hands
Maytee decided to check on her son herself. She drove all the way to the Straub residence.
Meanwhile, Tiffany picked up Johnny’s father. And the two also headed towards the Straub house. So Maytee, Tiffany, and Johnny’s father arrived at the residence.
They peeped through the windows. And Maytee noticed Johnny and Lisa were tied up and lying on the floor.
Maytee called the police for the third time.
On the other hand, Johnny’s father kicked in the front door. He entered the house. And he found Johnny and Lisa lying on the kitchen floor face up. Johnny was bound with duct tape.
And they both had plastic bags secured over their heads.
Johnny’s father ripped open the plastic bags. But he was very late. Johnny and Lisa were unresponsive.
It was later ruled out that Johnny and Lisa died of asphyxiation.
The Police Rushed to the Straub Residence
The police immediately got to the crime scene.
They found signs of a struggle on the first floor of the house. Cell phones had been broken. A clock was knocked off the wall The second floor was also ransacked.
There were pieces of the drywall, and broken things knocked around. Items were scattered everywhere.
Also, the jewelry box and nightstand drawers were opened.
The police also found a knife inside a box in the snow by the garage. And a cigarette butt was found sitting in the hallway just inside the door leading to the garage.
The police collected these things for a DNA test.
The police brought in Johnny and Lisa’s friends and acquaintances for questioning.
The police also collected swabs of DNA from the people that they interviewed. The police believed that Johnny and Lisa were killed by someone who knew them well.
Rumors had also circulated that Lisa’s family was wealthy. So that was possibly the murder motive.
The DNA Results of the Collected Things Came in
The DNA test results of the items that the police collected from the Straub residence came in.
The investigators reported a DNA profile of an unknown female inside Johnny’s sweatshirt pocket. The duct tape from Johnny’s wrists also contained the unknown female’s DNA. And it had two more unidentified male DNA profiles.
The cigarette butt had a 50–50 sample match to two men who were already on the police radar. These were Samuel Williams and Cameo Pettaway.
The police discovered that Samuel knew Johnny and Lisa through a mutual friend.
Samuel and Cameo Were Arrested
Samuel and Cameo were taken into custody.
They were both charged with murder. Their trials took place simultaneously on different floors of the same courthouse.
The defense argued that nothing proved that the cigarette butt was left on the night of the murder. Or that it was deposited there by those who smoked it. It could have been conveniently placed on the crime scene as a setup.
They also raised questions about the amount of unidentified DNA found at the scene.
Cameo was found not guilty. And he was released.
On the other hand, an inmate told the police that Samuel had confessed the murders to him. The inmate provided a detailed account of what Samuel had told him. The account included some details that weren’t released to the public.
Samuel was found guilty of two counts of murder, kidnapping, and burglary.
He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the aggravated murder charges.
11-year terms of imprisonment for each of the kidnapping charges and another 11-year term of imprisonment for the aggravated burglary charge. But Samuel still believes he is innocent to this day.
He stated that he still hopes the truth will come out one day.
The Aftermath
Johnny’s mother narrated how she is still traumatized by her son’s death.
Maytee frantically stated;
“I feel like this is a nightmare.
And I just need to wake up and give him a kiss and talk to him. I can’t stand life. His little brothers cry for him constantly.
My 7-year-old writes letters to him in heaven. My 15-year-old won’t come out of his room.”
Sources: scaredmonkeys, wtol.com, Lionessrue on medium