A relationship with an obsessed and abusive man is being blamed for the murder of two female cousins, one of whom had only returned from New York on a visit a day before the brutal killings.
Relatives of victim Franciena Johnson — a 19-year-old nursing student of addresses in Jacob’s Hut, in May Pen, Clarendon and Brooklyn, New York — told the Jamaica Observer on Friday that her relations with her boyfriend, whom the police have named as a person of interest in the murders, had been rife with abuse.
According to relatives, the boyfriend had in the past threatened to take Johnson’s life if she ended the relationship.
On Friday, December 20 — on what was supposed to be the three-year anniversary of their relationship — Johnson’s body was fished from the Salt Marsh River in Clarendon after residents phoned the police about explosions in the area.
The body, which had multiple gunshot wounds, was discovered hours after a missing person report was filed with the May Pen police regarding Johnson and her cousin Nordia Fearon, 19, who is of a Foga Road address in Salt River.
Fearon’s body was recovered from the river three days later.
The Clarendon police on Friday named Johnson’s boyfriend, Ricardo Grey, as a person of interest in the murders.
Grey is also known as Baugh, Liston Dixon and Liston Grey. He is said to frequent Greater Portmore and Spanish Town in St Catherine; Western Park, Farm/Effortville, Buck’s Avenue, Bucknor, Buck’s Common, Longville Park/Salt River in Clarendon; Little London in Westmoreland; and Spaldings and Christiana in Manchester.
On Friday, the Sunday Observer visited relatives of the murdered teens in Clarendon. At Fearon’s father’s yard, a black banner, bearing pictures of the teen, hung above the gateway. Similar pictures were mounted around
the community.
A large group of relatives, their faces hung with mournful expressions, was gathered at the yard.
They told the Sunday Observer that Grey was “very jealous” of Johnson and that he didn’t want her talking to anyone.
“Franciena had issues with her boyfriend,” said a cousin. “He kept threatening that he’s going to kill her if she leaves.”
They related instances when Grey allegedly assaulted Johnson, including an incident at a dance they had attended before Johnson migrated to the United States to live with her mother over a year ago.
Emily Johnson, the victim’s grandmother by her father’s side, said that her granddaughter was indeed abused but that she never reported it to the police.
The grandmother said that about two years ago Johnson visited her with a swollen face and refused to say what had happened.
“I said to her, ‘I know that you were fighting or your boyfriend beat you up’, but she didn’t respond,” the elderly Johnson told the Sunday Observer.
She said she told her granddaughter to take Grey to her, which she did. She said she scolded Grey and asked him why he assaulted the person he claimed to love, but he kept his head hung and said nothing.
At the end of it all, Johnson said, she told Grey, “If you find that you and her can’t [get along] leave her out, but don’t put back your hand on her.”
Ironically, Johnson said that when she first met Grey, after hearing that he was in a relationship with her granddaughter, she told him that she didn’t “send her out to look boyfriend” and asked him to “take care of her and don’t ill treat her”. His response, she said, was that he loved her granddaughter.
The woman said she found it strange that Grey had picked up Johnson at the airport when she arrived on the island on Thursday and that no one has seen him in the area since the bodies were found and that he called no one in the family to enquire about what had happened.
A cousin of the teen said that Grey had picked up Johnson and Fearon in May Pen on Friday evening.
But while Grey may not have called any relatives of Johnson, he was actively making postings on his Facebook wall. He didn’t address comments from Johnson’s friends who wanted to know what had happened.
“2day mek 3 years now mi an u a tlk y u affi left mi 2 day crying…,” he said in one post.
“Candy no,” he said in another.
In another set of postings a Facebook friend said she heard that Johnson was killed by her boyfriend.
Another friend told her that “Liston is her boyfriend”.
Grey, who appears on Facebook as Liston Dixon, posted in response, “yes she is mi wife an dem kill r crying…”
The Facebook friend, who said she heard that the boyfriend did the killing, later responded: “I know that’s y I was puzzled.”
A cousin of Johnson’s told the Sunday Observer that she had broken off the relationship with Grey but still had him listed on her Facebook page as her boyfriend.
A funeral service for Johnson is scheduled for Saturday at a location to be announced.
Meanwhile, Fearon’s mother, Arlene Robinson, said that her daughter’s killer should be brought to justice. She said her daughter was a “loving and kind person, who got along with everyone”.
This would have been her last year at Knox College.
This ugly ass motherf**ker and mi used to go the same high school, bout him a police poor stacy a cry her eyes out for cousins and it’s her own school mate kill dem…. God nah sleep, justice will be served.
Dam ugly bwoy fi true. Mi look pon him facebook page bout him n d nice sweet, sexy girl engaged. The papers said she broke up with him so y did she make him pick her up at the airport and also met with him in May Pen Friday before they went missing??? After him did us to abuse her n threaten fi kill her if she lef him. If u lef the ole dutty bwoy stay faaaaaar from him. She lived in NY now she had the perfect opportunity to avoid d craases.
Did they have a child or did she have a child? On her fb page she is shown with a baby, there’s no mention that she had a child
RIP Sweet angels, may the killer get his just reward
it is unfortunate that it came to this…but comforting somewhat to know it wasnt a random act. We as women still need to be careful when visiting.
this is so sad tho…a young woman with her whole future ahead of her. wickedness
Dutty scermage look pon him to nuh old wicked….. but….. why these young ladies love gun men? Dem fi put him foot dem ina boiling water and pull out him toe nail dem.
i feel is him same on use the name “F**K” weh day and commented on the story met first put up on christmas day i think….he apparantly was trying to comment that she have man a jamaica and lef him go a farrin an a hype pon him wid nex man so she mus keep har farrin hype to harself……this did not go down well will other bloggers as they were saying that he seemed to know something they didnt and now my body is filled with goose bumps because this new development just proved THAT BLOGGER KNEW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT. another blogger even cursed him out that he must’ve been the one to do it and his time will soon come……(GO VISIT THE FIRST STORY MET POSTED AND YOU WILL SEE HIS COMMENT…HIS BLOG NAME IS F**K)
Bet u is him same dunce raas, is same so him write when him comment pon facebook. Call d police metty mek dem trace him location,dutty ugly murderer
Memba yesterday how somebody come post up bout the girl diss di man and deserve whe she get? As if that would have been justification. This nice girl did this man a favour by de wid him in the first place and did herself a huge disservice. Look how him face fava brick up bammy. One of the saddest ting I read In awhile. I can’t understand how her family know him used to abuse har and never did so ethi g more drastic. She’s 19 for Christ sake, even now as a big ass woman if a man lick mi down mi better know if mi family know bout it is judgement for both of us. Would never have gotten to this. Sometime as gyal pikney we take up foolishness and look at the end result. A nice promising girl like this take up this germs and him kill her. RIP young ladies, vengeance is the Lords and mi sure bout it
Me feel is him comment on the post. Wicked rass. Me granny woulda say him ugly like sin.
Well at least the family has a direction on what happen. God bun fiyah pon him rass fi do this to the girl AND the cousin? He is heartless & wickid to his soul. Then have the nerve to comment on JMG/FB?! I hope he gets treated worse then dirt in prison.
RIP!
The first story said she migrated as a child, so people would think it was a random act, as she not supposed to have any strong links in Jamaica. The mother said she did not know anyone who would hurt her. This story showed that she left Jamaica recently and the family knew that she was being abused.
Apparently she and the guy are still together since he picked her up at the airport . From the looks of it, maybe the girl did not come to visit the grandmother , but to visit her boyfriend. Something bad happened and then the cover up to make it look like nobody knows what was going on. He was abusing her from she was 16 and the family ignored it.
Sad for the family, but best if they tell the full truth so that this guy can be caught. It seems like the family know a lot more that is going on, but because of embarrassment they are not talking.
It sad but I agree, speak the truth from the beginning, I figured there was more to this story than was being reported at first. Pride feels no pain, and the thruth shall set you free.
Look PON the wretch face…this the “fcker” mi mind did tell mi, because look how him find time fi FB and mek post.
Yesterday mi hear seh a next one allegedly kill him baby mada and four month old son.
What’s going on in our lil Jamaica tho, jesam mercy
u si how him ugly and coarse looking
im dutty nasty face fava im an pitbull a fuss cousin!!!
a dem deh man she pik up smh man juss hav a hawddd face n she bruk it off…ACT LIKE IT’S OFF! Why yuh mek em a pik yuh up smh..em shuddn evn noe seh yuh a cum dung smh
i didn’t have an abusive ex but however he was very controlling, i told him it was over and he was very upset this was a year after i couldn’t continue a long distance relationship with him any more. well him cuss and say me mash up him life, so on my first visit back home not even my mom knew i was coming i didn’t go anywhere i believed he would be and i watched my back carefully. after i returned i got a call very upset he said ” u come and not even tell me’ well i lied and say it was very short only to deal with stuff and was in a different parish so that it wouldn’t look too bad yet a year later all the calls from him i didn’t take at least 1 a month till it eventually stop. he even offered to buy tickets to go on vacations to different countries and he even came close to where i was. he has his money and so i heard later he paid friends to know my location and action, anyway he doesn’t bother me no more he never actually scared me at the time i just wasn’t feeling him no more but looking back i feel my actions could have caused my death and also prevented my death in the end when i just cut him off unexpectedly so he never got a chance to see me