Murders of Diane and Alan Scott Johnson

Overview

Diane and Alan Scott Johnson were shot to death in their home in Bellevue, Idaho, on the morning of September 2, 2003. Alan was shot twice in the chest; Diane was shot once in the head. Their 16-year-old daughter, Sarah Marie Johnson, was later convicted of the killings.

The Crime

According to case records, at approximately 6:20 a.m. on the morning of the murders, Sarah Johnson retrieved a .264-caliber Winchester Model 70 bolt-action rifle from a guest house on the family property. The tenant of the guest house had left for Boise, Idaho, and was not expected to return for about a week. Johnson entered her parents' bedroom and shot her sleeping mother in the head, then went into the bathroom and shot her father in the chest, just above the heart, while he was showering.

Investigation and Evidence

Investigators recovered a discarded bathrobe and a latex glove from a garbage can in front of the house; DNA testing on these items reportedly matched both victims and Sarah Johnson. A leather glove found with the robe and latex glove tested positive for gunshot residue, and investigators located its matching leather glove in Johnson's bedroom.

Reported motive centered on the victims' opposition to their daughter's relationship with a 19-year-old man, identified in case records as an immigrant from Mexico described as a drug dealer, whom the parents had prohibited her from dating.

Trial and Sentencing

Sarah Johnson was convicted of the murders of her parents by an Ada County, Idaho, jury on March 16, 2005. She was sentenced to two concurrent terms of life without parole, plus an additional fifteen years for a firearm sentencing enhancement. The Idaho Supreme Court upheld her conviction in 2008.

Post-Conviction Proceedings

In 2012, Johnson's lawyer filed a petition for a new trial, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel at the original murder trial. The petition also pointed to the absence of blood spatter on Johnson and noted that fingerprints on the murder weapon matched those of a renter who had been living in the family's guesthouse. The petition was denied in October 2014.

In 2017, Johnson sought to have her life sentence reduced, citing the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Miller v. Alabama and Montgomery v. Louisiana, which addressed sentencing of juvenile offenders. Her sentence was upheld.

Media Coverage

The case has since been covered in numerous television programs, including episodes of Investigation Discovery's "Solved" and "Deadly Women," TruTV's "Suburban Secrets" and "Forensic Files," Oxygen's "Snapped," Netflix's "Killer Women," and an ABC "Primetime: Crime" segment later incorporated into 20/20 on ID, among other film, television, and podcast features.