Johnson told family members that he had written a statement describing his recollection of the events of August 21, 1998 three weeks after the homicide, but had never provided it to police. This statement is called the “Root Beer Statement” because of its attention to many mundane details, including the fact that he drank “the last root beer” that night. In 1999, he provided the statement to family members. In addition, he and the victim’s son were interviewed by private investigator Pat Brown, who summarized portions of the interviews in her book, The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths. Note that some names are changed in the book.
Johnson’s stated thought process for the entire evening is predicated a single assumption: Andrea’s friend, Judy Taylor, had left a message on the answering machine. He assumed that Andrea had played the message and was with Judy.
One problem: The answering machine was un-played when Johnson found it. And when he called the Taylors, he never asked about Andrea.
The “Root Beer Statement” and some relevant excerpts from the book (provided under the doctrine of Fair Use) are provided here for review. Reviewers will immediately notice some interesting points:
- The assumption given in the Root Beer statement about Andrea’s whereabouts relies on an impossibility: that Andrea played an answering machine message (the message from Judy Taylor), which was un-played.
- Whereas Leonard’s confession implies that a root beer bottle would have been left on the floor (possibly indicating a crime scene), the statement describes Johnson sitting on the floor, drinking “the last root beer, “ and throwing away soda bottles.
- The statement describes Johnson doing laundry for most of the evening. But the quarters set aside as laundry money were supposed to be missing.
- There is missing jewelry in one statement, but not the other.
- In both statements, the author touches Andrea’s body only once, finds her cold, doesn’t roll her over to see what happened to her, then immediately calls 911 from another room. But the part of her body that he touches is different.
Reviewers will also notice references in both statements to the fact that the carpet was freshly vacuumed. But in 2018, Johnson admitted to the victim’s son that he is the one who vacuumed the crime scene.
Material Discrepancies in Johnson’s Statements
| TOPIC | JOHNSON FIRST STATEMENT | CONTRARY STATEMENT OR FACT | TRUTH/REALITY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone call(s) with Leonard | Andrea asked him to call, gave him the #, started with 202, black male from SE DC (to Chief Penn, 1998) | Johnson: Remembers nothing except that Computer Guy is male (to victim’s son, 1998) “There was no phone call” (via attorneys at trial, 2022) | Unknown, but Leonard reported getting call from husband, even in 1998: “She [Andrea] told me to talk to her husband later so he gave me a call.” |
| Andrea’s contributions to beach house | She was contributing $250/month (to Chief Penn, 1998) | She contributed nothing financially (to victim’s son, 2018) | Andrea was contributing $250/month |
| Schedule for beach house that weekend | Andrea was going | Andrea’s friend Judy Taylor: She wasn’t going | Unknown, but work calendar suggests she was not going |
| Who vacuumed? | Merely noticed that carpet was vacuumed (1998-99) | Johnson: I vacuumed (2018) | Unknown, but no prints were found on vacuum that Andrea typically used |
| Crime scene | Nothing out of place, except rolls of coins/bag/purse/car missing, jewelry taken. Drank “last root beer” while sitting on floor | Leonard: Root beer bottle on floor, blinds pulled shut, coins taken from different room, bathroom crime scene, no jewelry taken | Unknown, but fingerprint evidence consistent with cleanup |
| Condition of body | Blouse and slip, partially clothed, no blood, hair damp | (None) | Sundress, fully clothed, “copious” blood/foam, hair dry |
| Answering machine messages | Played machine, assumed Andrea had gotten 2nd (unplayed) message (1998-99) | No message from Sally Harrs, or didn’t play machine at all (2018) | Machine was played |
| Missing jewelry | To Police: No mention of jewelry | To victim’s son: Jewelry missing | Leonard never mentioned jewelry; jewelry never recovered |
| Andrea’s schedule that day | Thought she was going to work for a couple of hours that morning | Never called her work to see if she got there/came home | Unknown, but Leonard was told same schedule Johnson understood |
On August 22nd, 1998, immediately after leaving the police station, detectives told Johnson that if he wanted to be helpful, he should help them find Andrea’s car. Johnson immediately drove to the house of Andrea’s father, Phil Appel, and told him of the death. Immediately after that, he found the car. At the time he said that he found Andrea’s body, there was a blood/foam mix all over her face (although Johnson says he never saw her face), there were several missing items (coins, her car, car keys, purse, and a jacket, and he had already told police that they should send “an officer”). Johnson maintains that the police questioned him aggressively, calling him a “f*cking murderer” almost right away. Yet he told the victim’s father that “police said it looks like a “natural death”
As shown in the notes above, Johnson found the victim’s car about 90 minutes later. At that point, he called the victim’s son, Kevin, and told him that not only did he believe there was foul play, but that he believed he might be involved–and that the police suspected him. Kevin testified that Johnson told him: “They keep saying I was there, and maybe I was there…this is the last nail in my coffin…They are going to think I did it because I found the car.”
During the intermediate 90 minutes, Johnson had no interaction with the police. He simply changed the narrative from one in which police said Andrea likely died a natural death, to one in which police suggested there was foul play and he might be involved.
We have now uploaded additional photos that show that laundry basket, clothes hamper, dresser, telephone, and answering machine with which Johnson describes interacting throughout the evening are all right next to the closet, with its door out of position, and in which Andrea’s body was lying, with the door ajar.
The Root Beer statement and the relevant quotations from the private investigator’s book are available below.
Justice for Andrea Cincotta 