Crime scene investigator Sgt. Heather Williams works the scene where the body of Kenneth Johnson was found on Blackford Street in Chattanooga.Police think 59-year-old Kenneth Johnson – associate minister, ex-con, veteran, business owner, volunteer – died between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. Monday.
When his body was found in a ditch on Blackford Street about nine hours later on Tuesday morning, he looked like he’d been beaten to death.
Kenneth JohnsonBy early Wednesday, police had traced text messages on Johnson’s cell phone to a North Georgia couple now accused of murder: 26-year-old Jordan Craig and 22-year-old Steven Kelley. Both are charged with first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery.
And by 11 a.m. Wednesday, Pastor Ternae Jordan Sr., senior pastor at Mount Canaan Baptist Church where Johnson was an associate minister, had gathered his deacons at the church’s location on North Chamberlain Avenue to remember Johnson, declare that the good work must go on, and pray for Johnson’s family.
But not just Johnson’s family.