The Big Picture: Savannah Man Murders Wife

Monday, November 2, 2009

Savannah Man Murders Wife

A 69-year-old Savannah man was charged with murder Saturday.

At 10 a.m., 66-year-old Mary Ellen Johnson was gravely injured by a gunshot at her home on 30 Ben Kell Road. The residence doubles as an established day care facility, with a sign in the front yard that reads "Legacy Childcare & Learning Center."

Johnson was rushed to Memorial University Medical Center in critical condition. Saturday afternoon, doctors declared her dead.

"We're so shocked. You never heard any kind of commotion or anything," Blake said. "They had a business with the children. Everybody looked up to them."

By the time police arrived Saturday morning, they said, Johnson's husband, 69-year-old Robert M. Johnson, had escaped. He was apprehended 2 miles away at a BP gas station near the intersection of White Bluff Road and Rendant Avenue.

A timeline pieced together by investigators suggested the couple of 40 years had been arguing off and on Saturday morning, when Robert Johnson allegedly grabbed a gun and fired at least one round at his wife, according to Savannah-Chatham police spokeswoman Veda Lamar Nichols.

He was charged with murder and booked into the Chatham County jail to await a court hearing this week.

Mary Ellen Johnson's death was the 25th homicide reported to metro police this year. The first homicide of the month also involved a married couple. On Oct. 12, 63-year-old Walter Marchel was found stabbed to death in Clearview Homes. Police arrested Marchel's wife, Judy Davis Marchel, as a suspect.

October was Domestic Violence Awareness month.

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Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is the establishment of control and fear in a relationship through physical, sexual, emotional, and/or financial abuse. Both men and women are capable of misusing power and perpetrating violence, and male victims are often just as afraid to call the police. More resources for female survivors exist, however, because overwhelmingly women and children suffer the most severe consequences (medical, legal, social, and financial) and therefore require the most intensive interventions.

Many women choose to stay in abusive relationships because they do not want their relationship to end...just the violence. Women often remain in, or return to, abusive relationships because their partners threaten to harm them and their loved ones if they attempt to leave. Commonly, women choose to leave when they become convinced that their life is at risk, or that their children are in danger.

Domestic violence is not just a "family matter". The violence will not stop until men and women come together with a common attitude of non-tolerance. We must speak out for those who may not feel safe speaking up, and our children must learn through our words and example that violence is never justified.