Raynard Johnson, Mississippi
Seventeen-year-old Raynard Johnson was found hanging from a belt in his yard in Kokomo, Mississippi, on June 16, 2000. Two autopsies, including one requested by the family, have found the death consistent with suicide. There were no defensive wounds, such as broken fingernails or bruises. But from the beginning, the teenager’s family, neighbors and friends have insisted he was brutally ambushed and murdered by someone who opposed his friendships with young white women.
Arthur ‘JR’ Warren, West Virginia
The 26-year-old Arthur Warren was brutally killed in July 2000 by three white male teenagers. Detectives initially believed he was the victim of a hit and run until they got a call from a third teenager, a 16-year-old, saying he witnessed the murder but did not participate. Warren, who was openly gay, left his home around 11:30 p.m. the night before and stopped by an empty house where the boys were painting. The four knew each other. The two older boys beat Warren to a state of unconsciousness or death, put him in the trunk of a red Chevy Camaro and hauled him in the fog to the spot near a power plant, where they dumped him on a gravel turnout beside the road. They then ran over him repeatedly with the car, officials said, to make it look like a hit and run. David Parker pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on July 19, 2001, and was sentenced to life in prison. On Aug. 21, 2001, Jared Wilson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Jason Shoemaker later pleaded to being an accomplice after the fact for his part in helping to dispose of evidence after the murder.
