Son Arrested On Murder Charges After Parents' Bodies Found Buried In Woods

A Michigan man has been charged with double homicide after his parent’s bodies were found buried in the woods.

Nicholas Johnson, 27, from Portage has been arraigned Thursday on two counts of murder and weapon charges in connection with the death of his parents Gary Johnson and Laura Johnson, reported local news outlet Wood Tv.

Gary and Laura went missing on Feb. 3 but Nicholas, the couple’s only child, did not report it to the police. Gary’s employer alerted the police on Feb. 9, a week after he failed to show up at work. The police went to the couple’s home for a welfare check and found "signs of violence." They then initiated a search for the missing couple.

On the day the couple was reported missing, Nicholas was arrested on weapon charges unrelated to the case. Police found him hiding in a storage unit at an apartment complex near the crime scene.

Three days later, the couple’s bodies were found buried in a wooded area in Portage after an extensive search by police, reported news outlet NY Daily News.

“From the first time I heard they were missing — which was on Wednesday, the 10th early in the morning — as much as I wanted to believe otherwise, the rational part of me understood it was pretty much leading to something like this,” David Johnson, Gary Johnson’s older brother, told the news outlet M Live.

Nicholas also had two outstanding bench warrants when he was arrested. One of the pending warrants was issued in connection with a 2019 incident when Nicholas was charged with home invasion after he broke into his parents' home while he had no contact order.

The court documents indicate that the murders happened on Feb. 3.

“Not only is there immediate family and extended family, but there’s also a community that is impacted by their murders, a church community and a work community and a neighborhood that all have been impacted,” Jeff Getting, Kalamazoo County Prosecutor said Thursday. “We will use every resource that we have at our disposal in order to make sure justice is obtained in this case,” Getting added.

During the arraignment Thursday, the prosecutor told the court that Nicholas maintains his innocence and claimed that he has a mental illness. Nicholas is being held in the Kalamazoo County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on March 2.