VSP Charges Juvenile in PE County Homicide

FARMVILLE – The Virginia State Police charged a 17-year-old Prince Edward County male Wednesday (March 18) for the 2019 murder of a Prince Edward County man. The juvenile was served the petition for First Degree Murder at the Piedmont Regional Juvenile Center in Farmville, where he has been held since being charged in Buckingham County in December 2019. 

At approximately 10:38 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2019, Virginia State Police Trooper J.P. Campbell stopped a 2003 Toyota Avalon for speeding. The vehicle was traveling at 51 mph in a posted 35 mph zone on Route 60 in Buckingham County. The trooper activated his emergency lights and siren to initiate the traffic stop and the Toyota pulled over to the side of Route 60. But as the trooper approached the vehicle on foot, it sped away at a high rate of speed. A pursuit was initiated, during which the suspect vehicle began driving the wrong way on Route 60 before running off the road and crashing near Route 15.

The driver, a 17-year-old Prince Edward County male, was transported to Southside Hospital and then to VCU Medical Center for treatment of serious, but non-life threatening, injuries sustained in the crash.

State police charged the male juvenile with one felony count of eluding police, one felony count of grand larceny, two counts of theft of a firearm, petit larceny, two counts of reckless driving, driving the wrong way, resisting arrest, driving without a license and for not wearing a seatbelt.

Two stolen firearms were recovered from inside the crashed vehicle. State police also determined the Toyota had been stolen from a Prince Edward County residence.

Working with the Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office, state police were able to confirm that the vehicle had been stolen from the residence of Lloyd A. Johnson, who was found deceased in his residence the day after the juvenile’s arrest. Johnson, 75, had been murdered in his residence in Rice. With the assistance of the Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office, state police obtained the murder charge for the juvenile. 

The investigation remains ongoing at this time.