The Murder of Aaliyah Johnson and Her Father
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Our victim and Regina's daughter and Regina Johnson, our murderess. Regina Renee Johnson was born on January 19th, 1957 in Topeka, Kansas to her parents, Sylvester J.L. Wallace Sr. and Emma True Sloan. She had a brother, Sylvester Jr., and she also had a sister as well.

After she was born, her family then moved from Topeka, Kansas to Trenton, New Jersey. And that's basically where she was raised up until high school. In 1970, Regina, her mom, her stepdad, her brother, they all moved to Fort Lewis, Washington. There, she graduated from Lakes High School in 1975, and she was named the African-American Princess. I guess it was a pageant of some sorts.

She loved to sing. She loved to dance. She loved to spend time with family. And, you know, her siblings had kids. She was the fun auntie. They said that she was the person that like when it was birthday season, oh, she was coming through for the babies. And when she was about 29, 30 years old, and that's your early mid-20s, like it's time to come through for the babies because I ain't got none. Love those times. Loving those times right now. I am. I am.

My niece be FaceTiming me and I just be talking to her. I love it. And then I can hang up the phone and go back to being a grown adult. And that's it. Yes, I love it. And she loved it too. Her nieces, her nephews, the kids in the family knew that she was the one that was going to spoil them. And so then when she was around 29, 30 years old, that's the time where you're really trying to settle down. You're trying to invent yourself. You're trying to make sure that you've got...

yourself in order. And from there, at that time, that was what, 1986? She decides that she's going to move all the way to California. And when she gets there, she met her future husband. And his name was Reuben Johnson. Reuben Lee Johnson, aka Rudy Lee, was born January 13th, 1956 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

His parents were Augusta Wilson Johnson and Norman H. Johnson Sr. He had nine, count them, nine siblings. That's five brothers and four sisters. Their names were Ray Wilson, he's deceased, Norman Johnson Jr., Ronald Johnson, Donald Johnson, Juan Johnson, Joyce Johnson, Deborah Spinner, Rita Reeves, and Denise Johnson-Waldron.

I like that, Rita Reeves. It kind of rolls off your tongue. Kind of sounds like a news anchor. Now, Mr. Rudy Lee, he graduated from E.C. Glass High School. And after graduation, he went on to serve in the U.S. Navy. You know, doing his Persian Gulf stint. He was E6QM1. Y'all know what that means? And by the time he met Regina, he already had three kids of his own. He had Jamal Antoine Stamps.

Kiana Niche Hawkins and Delisha Marie Russell. One of Ruben's passions was that he was a dedicated Packers fan. Packer backer, as some would call it. He loved motorcycles, jazz music. He was into technology and you know, his friends and family were nearest and dearest to him. He was also a bit of a food connoisseur, a foodie if you will. He loved Italian, Mexican and soul food.

He was said to have an illuminating smile and a contagious laugh that forever lives on in the hearts and minds of his loved ones. Now, Regina and Ruben, they got married in 1991. He was holding down a lot of the household and, you know,

He's getting his nice military money. Providing a nice life overall. Security is what it is. Right. The security, you know, it wasn't just for his family and his household with Regina, but like we said, he has previous kids outside of this, but he wanted to make sure that all his kids were well taken care of, felt loved, felt, you know, felt his presence financially, emotionally, all that. Now,

Some would call Regina a bit on the spoiled side because she had a car and she knew how to use it, you know? She was swiping like a ninja when it came to these stores. She did contribute to the household a bit. In 1993, she was working as an office administrator at a financial firm, but

Their life did take a hit due to her spending. And, you know, I'm sure other motivators, but the spending did not help because in 1997, they had to file for bankruptcy. This was also the same year that they welcomed their daughter, Aaliyah True Johnson, on July 15th.

So, I'm sure this is a very stressful year in their marriage. A fresh baby. We fell for bankruptcy. Who knows what they've lost in the process. But all while they're going through this, it's like Regina's spending does not decrease. You know? Sometimes we gots to be on a budget. And sometimes, you know, people aren't always a fan of budgets. Now...

Regina loved being a mother. She described Aaliyah as her one true love.

and that motherhood was the greatest joy of her life. - Now, Aaliyah, she was growing up, she was well loved by both of her parents. Her dad was military, so he was very strict around the household, but nothing that no one couldn't handle. And her mom just adored her. In 2009, when Aaliyah is 12 years old, Ruben, he says that, you know, it's time. It's time for me to start thinking about retirement. And he retires from the military after serving 20 years.

Also in 2009, the family files for bankruptcy for the second time. But it's okay because usually, you know, military retirement usually means that it's just the start of the next phase of your life. So, of course, after he retires and after they file for bankruptcy, he goes out and he finds himself a job. Almost immediately after he gets a job, he finds out that he is being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Okay.

Which is like, I'm just getting my family back to where they need to be. And now I have to go through it. Now, after this diagnosis, I'm sure that the benefits came from the VA. But after this diagnosis, he loses his job because now he has to fight cancer. And while he is going through this, he's starting to see a change.

And his household, not just, you know, the health structure that he's going under, but he's starting to see a change in Regina. And notice that Regina is not acting the way that she used to. And he's starting to be concerned that Regina is having mental health issues. And then Regina's foundation gets rocked because in 2011, after 18 years of working at her job, Regina is laid off.

And Ruben, he is starting to notice these changes in Regina. Then Regina loses her job and then she basically goes on a downward spiral of depression. And he sees these things going on with his wife. And so he tries to intervene. He's telling her, you know, I really care about you. I love you. You already know we got benefits. Let's get you the help that you need because there is a significant change that needs to be addressed.

Now, she does listen to him. I think that she recognizes that something is going on and that she does need further evaluation. And from that, she goes to a doctor and she is prescribed Welbutrin. Now, what most people don't realize with medicine, especially with mental health issues,

medicine, you have to consistently follow up with your doctor. There is no one size fits all. You have to level your diagnosis based off your need. If it needs to go up, if it needs to go down, there is no such thing as I took this pill and magically I'm better ever. And so she's adjusting to new medicine. It's starting to be a huge stress on the family. Now at this time, Ruben had found himself another job.

He's working, but the house is very tense. But Aaliyah, she's growing up. At this point, she's a freshman at West Hills High School. She's a cheerleader. Things are going well. She's got herself a little boyfriend, but she also is a freshman. So she sees the changes in her home. She understands that something is not right with mom. She understands that her dad is fighting cancer. She understands that there is a real...

dark shadow over her home. And she confides in her boyfriend about this. She talks about her mom's mental health issues with her boyfriend and says that, you know, she's kind of scared about what the future with her mom is going to look like because of everything that they're going through at this time.

Now, speaking of this boyfriend, Rudy Lee did not like this boyfriend. As a matter of fact, he did not think that this boyfriend was a good influence on his daughter. And so he put down his foot as the man of the house and he told her that she needed to break up with this boyfriend. She didn't like it. Boyfriend didn't like it either, but she did.

And she hadn't spoke to him for about two weeks. It's Wednesday, May 30th of 2012. Aaliyah is getting done eating breakfast. She's getting out the shower. She's taking her time to make sure she looks real good because it is picture day at school. Make sure hair is laid, makeup is laid. So she's in her room with a Vaseline jar, you know, getting things together.

I really kept trying to run through myself like what the fuck is she doing with a jar of Vaseline because I would put it on my lip. People were still putting Vaseline on their elbows. That just makes me feel so hot and thick. Ruben is out the house already because he had to get up early and go to a doctor's appointment. Aaliyah is actually running a little late. She probably should have already been on the bus or driven or however she's getting to school. She probably should have already been on that route.

But she's taking her time. It's picture day. She gotta look good. So Ruben's gone. It's just her and Regina in a house. And Regina finds herself walking into her bedroom, grabbing Ruben's gun, and loading the magazine into the gun. She then proceeds to walk into the room where her daughter is, raises the gun to the back of her head, and shoots Aaliyah once, execution style. Now, all this time,

Regina just sits and waits for Ruben to come home. He comes in because he wants to grab lunch after his doctor's appointment but before he goes to work. Makes himself a salad, wants him up a slice of pizza, and he starts to walk down the hall and notices that Aaliyah's door is open. Now, he wants to look in there because, girl, shouldn't you be going? But instead, he finds his daughter dead on the ground, face down.

He drops his food and he rushes to her body, screaming her name. Aaliyah, Aaliyah, wake up, baby, please, Aaliyah. Not knowing Regina was still in the room. Regina walks up, holding his gun up at him. And Ruben starts to back out the hallway. Baby, baby, please, you're not thinking straight. It's me, baby, you're not in your right mind. You see, Ruben was already concerned about her. But Regina's not trying to hear it.

She shoots Ruben in the stomach and Ruben starts to fall down and on his way down she shoots him again in his head. Afterwards she lays a blanket over Leah's body and lays next to her daughter for three days. Now during those three days that Regina was in the home she at some point took lipstick and wrote a note on the mirror saying

And it looked like this note was to her doctor. And that note said, you knew I should not be taking all those meds. This is your fault. I don't know if it is to her doctor or if it's to her husband who was also trying to help her be medicated and encouraging her to be medicated. But it was a note. And she also recognized the medicine probably did this to her. While she was in the home, she also flushed down the rest of her pills as well as the gun shell casings.

On the third day, June 2nd, 2012, Regina calls her sister, Katrina. On the phone, she tells her sister that Ruben and Aaliyah are dead.

Now her sister hears this and immediately she's like, what do you mean they're dead? What do you mean? She's like, they're dead. So Katrina calls the police and she tells them that they need to get to their townhouse. Police rush to their complex. It's off of Navajo Road and they're like knocking on the door. Bang, bang, bang. Police open up. Police open up and nobody's answering the door. At first, the police think that nobody is there. They knock on the door again. After a while, Regina comes and she opens up the door and they're like, ma'am, are you okay?

And she just is kind of looking at them, not talking, definitely a daze over her eyes. And they're like, ma'am, are you okay? Ma'am, is something wrong? Do you need help? And she just opens up the door, walks in the door, letting the police officers in. And she sits down on the couch while the police search the home.

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Ruben was found in the hallway and Aaliyah was found in the bedroom. So the first thing they do is they take Regina to the hospital. They take Regina to the hospital and get her checked out because we don't know what's going on. She's not really speaking. And they decide they're going to canvas the neighborhood. Who do we know that knows this family? Nobody in the neighborhood had heard anything. And also it's three days later. So like if I heard something last night, I'm more likely to remember it like a random gunshot than anything.

remembering a random gunshot from three nights ago, you know, so no one really heard anything. And then the neighbor was like, you know, the daughter and the dad, they've been arguing. She's a teenager. So her, her and her dad are definitely arguing. She's like, maybe that's something to look into. They reached out to Ruben's family and they're like, I mean,

He ran a straight household, but he wasn't abusive. Like he loved his daughter. And, you know, she did have a little boyfriend at the time. And so they're like, oh, she's got a little boyfriend. They go and find that girl's ex-boyfriend and ask for him to come in. The boy, his mom actually brings him up, which is like somebody reaches out for her kid. She talked to her child first. She was with her child while she went down to the police station to clear her baby's name.

And that is when he tells the police officers that, of course, he had really strong feelings for Aaliyah. But Aaliyah broke up with him two weeks ago because her dad said so. And they were like, is there anything that you can tell us? Have you seen? Have you been to the house? He's like, I haven't been to the house. I am finding out about her death just like everybody else. He was like, but she...

definitely confided in me about her house being very turbulent. She was really concerned about her mom and her mom having a lot of mental health issues. And she confided in me that she was nervous about what her mom could do. And the police are thinking, and they're like, you know, we did pull up and mom was not speaking to anybody. Regina is released from the hospital and the police talk to her and they say, can you tell me what happened that night? And she says, yes, I can. And they say, okay, tell us what happened. She says,

My husband and my daughter have been arguing all the time over boys. He wants to raise her. So when I just want her to live her life and have a good time, enjoy being young and beautiful. And so one day she was getting dressed and he comes in and he's arguing with me and him and I are arguing about what she's going to wear. And he pulls out a gun and he shoots her because she tried to get in between our argument and she got shot in the back of the head.

From there, my daughter falls and he drops the gun. I scream over her body. And then I pick the gun up off the ground where he's standing and I shoot him in the chest and I shot him in the head. But it's because he killed my baby. He killed my baby. And I just did not know what to do. And so the police are taking this in and they're like, could it be true? We did hear that dad was strict, but we also heard that mom had mental health issues. Which one is the truth?

So they send the gun in for testing and they wait to get results back. Turns out there was no gunshot residue on Ruben's hands. And there was a slight amount of gunshot residue on Regina's hands. Now remember, this had been days since she would have shot the gun. That also tells you that she didn't wash her hands in days. His would still be there because his body hasn't been moved. His body hasn't been touched. Then they go to the gun place.

Turns out her fingerprints are everywhere. They are on the bullets that are in the clip. They are on the clip. They're all over the gun. She ain't wipe it down for nothing. You supposed to wipe down your bullets before you load your gun. Just so you know, just so you know. And they're like, ma'am, we you are under arrest for murder on June 6th.

of 2012 she had her arraignment and entered a not guilty plea for two counts of first degree murder the trial was originally set for may of 2013 but regina's legal proceedings were suspended because when she got to court they was like you know i actually don't know that you're fit to stay in trial they had to go see a medical professional and it was deemed that she was not and so she was ordered to stay at a mental facility until she was fit to stand trial

Now, during her stay, they held a celebration of life on June 12th for her husband and daughter and then held the funeral on June 15th. Now, August of 2013 comes around. This is a year...

and some change after the murder, a few months after her original court date was set. But again, she is put into this mental institution until she's competent. Now, while she was there, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and all this time she had been committed to Patton State Hospital, and they ended up holding her for two years before the hearing started back up again. In October of 2015, she was finally found competent to stand trial.

Dr. Leong says, quote, Overall, Ms. Johnson possesses a basic comprehension of her legal predicament and the associated legal process. If she did not know something, she could be educated on the missing knowledge. As previously emphasized, Ms. Johnson can be reluctant to demonstrate her awareness of the ongoing legal case.

It is quite understandable that an individual would not want to participate in a discussion of such emotionally charged subject involving the deaths and killings of one's spouse and child.

In March of 2016, when her preliminary hearing was set, they had another doctor, Dr. Abrams, write a letter to the court that said, quote,

I agree with Dr. Ling that Ms. Johnson is able to understand the charges against her. Ms. Johnson continues to express an inability to remember any details about the alleged crimes during my interview. The full records from Patan will need to be reviewed to better assess the reasons for this amnesia. On my recent evaluation, Ms. Johnson continued to express paranoid thinking. Ms. Johnson was improved from the last visit I had with her. If

If her amnesia is from mental illness, it might perhaps improve with further treatment. Amnesia by itself is not solely a basis for trial incompetence. But in this case, the amnesia is likely related to Miss Johnson's severe mental illness. So here it is. The defense is like, listen, there is a real mental health issue here that we need to address before she can have a fair trial.

Now, the defense counsel, they continue to move for the court to suspend proceedings in order Regina's mental health to be reevaluated.

Her attorney talked about the last meeting that she had with Regina and the attorney said, quote, what generally happens with a fair amount of paranoia is that I am told that I already represented certain things and they're generally things which are not accurate. And I have to explain to Miss Johnson that I didn't say those things, but she sure I did. And we argue about what that means. And then once we can hopefully clear that away.

Then we get to start from square one again to embark on a conversation about her case. For example, her exposure or the possible results that could come from trial. You know, what hospitalization would mean with a not guilty by reason of insanity plea.

The attorney says, "I don't think she's being indecisive. I think she genuinely cannot understand her options or understand the information." Like, her defense is like, "Listen, judge, I am trying to do my job here." But the court relies on the fact that when she was at Paton State Hospital, there was a doctor that said that she was not suffering from any kind of delusions. Dr. Leon, he said, "Listen, she is fine.

She's up to date on current affairs. She knows what's going on in all the cases. But here we do, we have this other doctor that's saying, listen, no, she doesn't. So it's really who the court is going to believe. And this back and forth during prelims last for days. But finally, the judge is like, listen, I think she's lying. I think she's putting on a show.

And we are going to continue with this trial. Take that shit to trial, bitch. Take that shit to trial, bitch. Take that shit to trial, bitch. Take that shit to trial. San Diego County Superior Court Judge Joan P. Weber presided over this case. The jury consisted of eight women and four men. Don't know the racists. Sorry. Ruben's two sisters and one of his daughters attended the trial.

Public defender Neil Bessie represented Regina, and her defense was that after a violent argument, Ruben grabbed a gun, killed their daughter, and she fought him, got control of the gun, and shot and killed him, you know?

being partially vengeance for her daughter, but more so if he killed her, he could kill me next. Imminent danger, right? She said that he was coming from his work break and got upset that he wasn't at school yet. And that's when the yelling start, which led to the shooting.

Regina also claims in her version of events that it was Aaliyah who went and got the gun and brought the gun into the scenario in the first place. Aaliyah gets the gun. She points it at her dad. Ruben knocks it away. At that point, Regina says she's like, come on, Aaliyah, get out of here. Like, this is too much. They begin walking away. And that's when Ruben gets the gun and shoots Aaliyah.

This is when Regina then says she hears the gunshot. Aaliyah falls to the floor and Regina is screaming, you shot my baby girl, you shot my baby. And then she also reiterates that, you know, Ruben fell to her side. Oh, my God, Aaliyah, Aaliyah. That's like the consistent part of her story every time she tells it is that Ruben is calling out his daughter's name. Now, her counsel argues in that moment,

Regina's daughter's life and everything it represented flashed before her eyes. She was faced with the unexpected and unthinkable trauma of watching her husband shoot their daughter. You know, the family had been under a lot of stress. There's a cancer diagnosis. Ruben lost his job. Regina's having mental health issues. On top of that, word on the street is Ruben been cheating on Regina for years. Also adding to her depression. But...

Overall, based on Regina's story,

She's only guilty of manslaughter, not first degree murder. And there is quote, no way Regina Johnson killed her daughter. It's not who she is. She loved her too much. Okay. Yes. So this is the story that she told at trial, which obviously we know is not the truth. We already told you exactly what happened, but let me tell you how many ways this story does not make sense. First of all, this man is 20 years, former military. Okay. He is trained with weapons.

arms so you're telling me that his daughter loaded the gun pointed the gun to him and he just freaked out and was so emotionally unaware that he then shot his child and then his training did not kick in and he just drops the gun anybody that is gun trained I mean even like I've

trained with weapons but not like hardcore you know intense military training and I still know that that's not something that I would do and you know even in those heightened situations your training kicks in so him dropping the gun in order for Regina to get the gun knowing that his wife is unstable just does not make sense he's trained he's

to think under pressure exactly the defense counsel Virginia's lawyer is just basically arguing she has no motive to kill her daughter her daughter is her shining light at the end of the tunnel which is her depression her depression was not aimed at Aaliyah you know her depression was triggered by her husband like that makes sense but there's there's no logical reason for her daughter to die and I don't

think like, you know, you speaking logically, I don't think there's a logical reason for either parent to shoot them. So I don't know that logic is going into play. Not that I think Ruben did it, but logic is not what's happening in this, in this story. Um, Regina goes on to testify that she only shot and killed Ruben once he realized he took their daughter away. She's not responsible for Leah's death. She wants to make that clear on a stand.

She said that after Ruben shot Aaliyah, she just shot him 'cause she was scared of what he'd do next. But Aaliyah was her everything. She said, "I did not kill my daughter. Everybody that knows me knows that Aaliyah, she was the love of my life." Ruben, however, a serial cheater. And when asked if she killed Ruben, she said yes.

And her lawyer even asked her, did you kill Ruben because of the cheating? And she said, no. Ruben's been having affairs since Aaliyah was born. I've gotten immune to it. It was nothing for me because, like I said, Ruben and I weren't even sleeping together at this time. And then when asked where the depression comes from, she mentioned not being able to dote on her daughter the way she wanted to. Maybe this is where her spending habits, you know,

were getting a little out of control and not just spoiling herself, but being able to spoil her daughter and not being able to do that and having to abide by this strict regimen of this military man wasn't, you know, fitting the lifestyle that she envisioned for herself. Well, you know, the prosecution or the detectives or whoever they said that they think that her original plan...

I was like, you know, she was so depressed she couldn't go on. And so she was gonna, but she didn't want to leave her family behind, so she shot her family, but then couldn't make it to pull the trigger on herself. So then sat there and thought for three days.

of what to do now that she has killed her husband and daughter. And then was like, okay, I guess I better start cleaning this up and come up with a plan. But like, they don't think that she meant to survive. The deputy district attorney, her name was Nicole Rooney, said that Regina and Aaliyah had a really good relationship, but eventually their relationship kind of tore. And it's really unclear what happened now. I've been looking at YouTube comments and of course, everybody's like, oh,

Regina was jealous of Aaliyah because Aaliyah and her dad were close and Regina and her husband weren't anymore, but...

That's all speculation. The district is also proving that Regina shot Ruben and Aaliyah, and they have the evidence to prove it. They have cell phone records from Ruben showing that he was at the doctor that morning and coming home for lunch. The bullet trajectories, they had a professional come to the stand and talk about how the positioning of the body with the trajectory of the bullet only shows that Regina was the one to pull the trigger.

Also they have that jar of Vaseline that Aaliyah was holding while she was shot and there was so much blood on the Vaseline that's how they concluded that she was holding the jar. And I'm going back to what you were saying earlier Tazzy and I really think that like

You used Vaseline for anything. It's also in Washington state, so it's a little bit cooler even though it was May at the time. And I still put Vaseline on my feet and put socks on them because, you know, we don't want crustiness. The attorney says, quote, evidence shows that she hunted them down. She walked from her first shot through Aaliyah's room around the corner, followed him as he retreated, stood over him and executed him.

They say that Aaliyah was likely killed first and then she shot Ruben in the stomach while the two of them were in Aaliyah's room. He staggered away, fell to the floor and Regina stood over him and shot him in the head.

They claim that Regina was depressed, paranoid, and taking medication, that she had just lost her job, her marriage, her relationship with her husband was estranged. And on top of that, her daughter is now a teenager, and you know how teenage girls are. She felt like she was really losing a grip. All of this proves that she was the one, says the attorney, to pull the trigger and

And on top of that, the bodies were, quote, left to rot for three days while she thought of a way to get away with it. And at the end of the day, she came up with a story that she could live with. I wonder if there's like a...

A spiritual reason why she waited three days. The district attorney goes on to say that they had a good relationship, the mom and daughter, but unfortunately, circumstances in the house changed. The dynamics of the home changed. And when things changed for Ms. Johnson, this ultimately led to the tragic event of her killing her family. They say that the evidence proves what she did, that the crime scene will tell you the defendant found the gun, loaded it, and killed her family. I mean, her fingerprints are literally all over it.

The jury deliberated for three days before finding Regina guilty of second-degree murder and found not guilty of first-degree murder. When the judge read the non-guilty verdict of first-degree murder, Regina cried, like, out loud, loudly, but, you know, the crying stopped very quickly once the judge continued on to read a guilty verdict of second-degree murder. She was found guilty on both counts and two counts of using a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Afterwards, DA Rooney said, quote, Now, none of Ruben's family made it to sentencing, but they did send letters asking the judge to give Regina the maximum sentence.

In one of Deborah's letters, Deborah, his sister, she said, quote, Regina was able to speak at her sentencing, and she read a letter, a note that she wrote to her daughter, Aaliyah. It says, quote,

This letter is to my daughter, Aliyah True Johnson. Aliyah, God grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. As I sit here this morning, my heart has a big hole in it. Aliyah, Mommy has been trying to figure out why am I here. When I lost you, I lost myself.

Every day is a struggle. There's not one second, minute, hour, day, week, months, and now years that I don't think of you. You know how much mommy loves you. And you know that as your mother, I would have never hurt you. But on that day, May 29th, 2012, I should have protected you. I should have protected you. How can anyone accuse me of such a crime? Aaliyah, you were my whole life. I loved you so much. But on that day when your dad took you away from me, I snapped.

I took his life. What I did was a crime, but how could anyone, I mean any mother say that they would not have done the same thing? Aliyah, mommy just don't understand. I've been convicted of taking your life. And why? I don't understand. What was my motive? What was my reason? Everyone that knows our relationship, the love that we had for each other, knows that we were not just mother and daughter. We were best friends. Our bond was so tight that not even glue could pull us apart. Why am I guilty of taking your life?

This court has never said why. How can you convict a mother for taking her daughter's life? There's not one ounce of evidence that would answer that question. The only evidence this court had come from, the only evidence this court, the only evidence this court had came from testimony of family and friends, and their testimony only spoke of how close we were and how much we loved each other. Aaliyah, your mommy misses you so much. You were the best. You were the best part of me.

I would move heaven and earth just to have my beautiful daughter here with me. I'm lost without you, Aaliyah. God knows I am. When I think of all the things we did together, laughing, talking, shopping, going out to dinner and traveling, my life is never going to be the same. My future...

What future? Aaliyah, you were my future. Every day I was always thinking ahead about your graduating college, getting married, and of course me being a grandma, baby girl. All that, all that, my hopes, my dreams, all that, they're all gone. I want you to know that grandma, Auntie Katrina, Uncle Juju, she lists a whole bunch of names here, I'm not going to give them to you, all of her family members, I could go on and on. They all miss you and they will always remember and love you.

My sweet daughter, I will carry you in my heart and I will always, always, always, always, always love you. Everyone knows us, knows that my life will never be the same without you.

I love you, Aaliyah. Sleep on. My beautiful daughter, take your rest. Mommy loves you dearly, but God loves you best. It's crazy because it's like she told herself this lie so many times she started to believe it. Regina's sister, Katrina West, Aaliyah's aunt and godmother, made the following statement. She said, quote, I need to speak from my heart. Anyone who knows my sister knows that she would give her last dime to help anybody. Her heart was as big as gold.

She was a second mother to me growing up. She was always there for me. She took me to my first day of school. She was there when I found out if I was having a boy or a girl. She was my maid of honor at my wedding. She was there for every important and crucial time in my life. She always has kind words to say. For me, she's always been a calming effect and knew the right thing to say to get me through a situation. The one thing my sister always wanted to be was a mother. And I remember when Ruben and her told our family they were having a child.

They flew up to Washington. It was Thanksgiving, and it was one of the most joyous days in our life because they had tried for so long to have a child. I named Aaliyah. I remember nights when we spent going through a list of names trying to decide what was perfect name for the perfect little girl. Aaliyah's middle name is true. She's named after our mother, which is a middle name that has been shared by my daughter as well to honor our mother.

Anyone that knows their relationship knows that my sister would do anything to protect her daughter, to cherish her daughter, to honor her daughter. Aaliyah never wanted or needed anything. She would spend her last dime to ensure that Aaliyah was happy. Aaliyah was her life. They were more than mother and daughter. They were best friends. It was a rare type of relationship, a special kind of love. And I'm sure it's something that many other mothers and daughters wish they had. I could go on and on, Your Honor.

about my sister as a person she never had any run-ins with the law she's never had a parking ticket never been to court she's never been in any kind of trouble as a wife her and ruben went through their issues just like any married couple does there's never a perfect marriage but they tried their best to work through it and i know that they loved each other i'll end by saying this one thing i know is that when alia left this earth she knew how much her mother loved her

And that's something that will never change, is my sister loving her daughter and her daughter loving her. She was the most important person in my sister's life, and my sister was the most important person in hers. I know Aaliyah loved her with all her heart, and Aaliyah would do anything for her. I can't change what happened, Your Honor, but I know, I know that God's looking over my sister, and I know that Aaliyah and my father are looking over my sister from heaven. And I just ask for grace and mercy for my sister. And it really makes me think, you know, like Ruben...

He wants to protect his family. He knows that his wife is going through things. Was he really sharing with everybody how bad the house was getting? Of course, maybe Regina's sisters didn't see it because maybe they didn't know how bad the house was getting because, you know, men, they try to, everything needs to stay up in here. At the sentencing, the prosecutor said this, quote,

I don't think anyone in this courtroom will ever say that this case is not incredibly tragic for everybody involved. And I think that the hardest part for the family to come to grips with is that Regina Johnson changed. And the Regina Johnson they knew and loved wasn't the same person that killed her family that day. But the evidence has proven and the jury has found that she and she alone murdered her daughter.

Judge Joan Weber said, quote, the one thing we know is that the story you told the jury, Ms. Regina, is not what happened.

The judge goes, thinks about what the, the judge goes out, thinks about what sentence is fair and comes back sentencing Regina to 80 years to life. She received 15 years to life for each murder and 25 years to life for each firearm enhancement. And because she had been in jail this, this entire time, she did receive 1,995 days of time served credit.

After the judge imposed the sentence, Regina was so angry. She said, judge, how can you say that? How can you sit there and say that I killed my daughter? Judge, you are not a fair judge. You are not. You talk about the evidence. You don't even know what the evidence truly was. I shot him because he shot my daughter and they had to pull her out of court, child. And she was kicking and screaming out of court. She was like, I do not respect you, judge. You I'd

not respect you. I have no respect for you as a judge. In 2020, she appealed and says the court, one, abused its discretion in finding her competent to stand trial and violated her constitutional right to due process by failing to hold another competency hearing just before the preliminary hearing. Two, should have remanded this matter for trial court to consider her eligibility for pretrial diversion for persons with mental illnesses. Three, should have also remanded the court to exercise its discretion regarding whether to dismiss

Her conviction was upheld, quote,

quote, but remained for the trial court to exercise its discretion on whether to dismiss the firearm enhancement. Before Regina could get resentenced or anything, she passed away. She died behind prison walls on September 25th, 2022. I couldn't find a cause of death, but her obituary was very nice. And from what I was able to gather, it seems like her body was moved from the prison walls to a cemetery in Washington State where she was laid to rest next to her husband and her daughter. Mm-hmm.

I wonder what her husband's family think about that. They be like, "Now she gotta lay next to him in death?" Hell naw.

I don't know. Maybe they agreed to it. Maybe they realized that this really was a mental break in Regina. And there was, you know, from what we saw, it was a happy family overall. Maybe it was already in her will or in their insurance plan and they had already bought the plots. I mean, there are plenty of explanations as to why that would happen. Yeah. I think this story gives way to a very interesting discussion because who's that doctor that we just did?

Dr. Marsha Edwards. Right. And we actually got a lot of feedback about Dr. Edwards. Like I saw some people were saying the fact that you are acting like a woman can't kill or that a mother can't kill her child, which I don't think is what either one of us are saying, because this shows about women killing. And we've seen several cases where women kill their children. But I think it was just such the picturesque lifestyle that

And like just everything going well, that there seemed to be no motive or a catalyst, which also led to the conversation of... Happy pictures on Facebook doesn't mean that you're actually having a happy life. Just because things appear happy, does that mean she was truly happy or was she suffering from depression quietly in the shadows and nobody could tell? I just think that the differences between these two cases is that here in this case, we have...

a history of mental health issues. We see that he has been trying to get her help, that she's starting new medication. Aaliyah is confiding in her ex-boyfriend about the changes that she sees in her mom. And she stayed there with the bodies and she's still alive.

Everyone is dead in this case, except for the actual killer. And Dr. Marsha Edwards, you know, there is that high status and there is the hiding of the mental health issues if they were present. There also is the question of the fact that she said her children are dead, but there is also this husband that is still alive. I'm not saying that he did it. I mean, she definitely could have done it.

But it's really hard when there are so many unanswered questions. And I feel like we get a little bit more closure with this case than we do with Dr. Edwards. I think it's just harder to reconcile with, you know, so many things unanswered. Absolutely. And this is the story of Regina Johnson.

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I wonder if she was just like, my husband has to die. I, whether I kill myself or go to jail, I ain't gonna make it. And I don't want my daughter to go through life with this grief.

So I'm going to just put her out the misery because she legit had nothing to do with it. Okay. So she passed away behind prison walls. But if you were on the parole board, parole or no parole? I just think she needs mental help. I almost feel like she was put out of her misery and death because even if it was a mental break that caused you to kill your family,

You're living every day in suffering with the realization of what you've done, you know? So... And then even still, if... If in a fantasy world, her husband did it and she did it to avenge her daughter and protect herself, she's still living with that weight of her daughter every day and now she's behind bars for it. You know, just...

It was probably the easy way out. It's just really the fact that she sat with those bodies and she laid next to her daughter's body for three whole days. And that's what's giving it a different level of, mm,

And it's really I think that's what really makes me feel like I think she did want to kill herself with them. And also remember, she covered up her daughter's body and she left her husband's body just out there like. So she had like respect for her daughter's body and not for her husband's. Yeah, this was a very tragic case. And that is the end of the story for real.

All right, you guys. Thank you for staying to the end of the story. Let's go ahead and read some reviews. If you've made it this far, you might as well just leave us a review and tell the whole world that you like us. Wherever you're listening, please leave a five-star and slash or written review. While I am looking for a review, and Taz, look for one as well, we do have a special announcement. That's right. We are going on tour. Yes, we are going on tour. Taz, tell them about our very first story.

stop we will be our first stop in Brooklyn that's right we'll be in New York I'm so excited but make sure that you are paying attention to our social medias everything that we have going on because we're going on a real tour like this is not the only date and you don't know if we're gonna hit your city

But we're going to let you know very soon. Okay. I'm so excited that we are locking in everything that needs to be locked in for the tour. It is going to be amazing. I can't wait to see y'all. All right. I have my review. This one says, so glad I found your podcast. You ladies are the real deal and so fun to listen to. I love your storytelling skills and how thorough you are while humanizing the perpetrators, not just the victims.

The banter is very enjoyable. I listen to you guys while I'm doing house chores, in the car, basically wherever I can. Thank you so much. We're happy to be with you. All right. This review says, I love the show. Five stars from Gandy Girl 08. It says, it's giving girlfriends.

I love y'all and the stories. Thank you so much. If you have anything nice to say, please do on a written review. If you have something mean to say, please don't hurt my feelings on the internet. I am too sensitive for that. You can just email us at sisterswhokillpodcast at gmail.com. I will look at it. I will read about it. I will cry about it. And I probably won't reply unless you really upset me.

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