Account
Mar 21, 2016
Jun 18, 2020
Charles
Johnson
71
28
69 inches
72 inches
170 lbs
200 lbs
White / Caucasian
Male
In the summer of 1981, a 28-year-old carnival worker named Charles Edward Johnson, known to friends as "Mississippi," was living in a trailer in the small village of Adelaide in Dunbar Township, Pennsylvania. Originally from Florida, he had traveled to Fayette County with the carnival, putting down temporary roots with his wife. The couple lived next door to his wife's sister and her husband, David Eugene Lint, and all four worked together at the Fayette County Fair that summer. In late July of that year, Charles Johnson vanished. As the carnival packed up and moved on to its next destination, many simply assumed that "Mississippi" had gone with them. With few strong family or community ties in the area, his absence went largely unnoticed, and for a time, it was as if he had never been there at all. Months later, in January 1982, the silence surrounding Johnson's disappearance was broken when an acquaintance came forward with a horrifying story for the police. The individual claimed that Johnson had not left with the carnival but had been murdered inside a mobile home in Adelaide. This led authorities to launch an investigation, and they soon identified David Eugene Lint as a person of interest. Rumors had circulated that Lint had killed Johnson, alleging that Johnson had been abusive towards his wife. The investigation uncovered that Johnson had been shot, his body burned in a fire pit, and his remains disposed of. Despite interviewing people and collecting evidence, including a rifle believed to be the murder weapon, the case eventually grew cold. For decades, the fate of Charles Johnson remained a grim local mystery, his body undiscovered and justice seemingly out of reach. The case lay dormant for over thirty years until new attention from a cold case investigator brought a break in 2012. David Eugene Lint, the original person of interest, was taken into custody on an unrelated charge and began to talk. In 2015, decades after Charles Johnson was last seen, Lint was officially charged with his murder. In August 2016, Lint pleaded no contest to criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. As part of his plea agreement, he was sentenced to prison and finally revealed the location of Johnson's remains. Authorities were led to a burn pit where they recovered what was left of Charles Edward Johnson, bringing a definitive and tragic end to the long-standing mystery. The resolution confirmed that the young carnival worker had not just moved on with the fair; his life had been violently taken, his absence a quiet testament to a crime that had been hidden for more than three decades.
Jul 31, 1981
Dunbar Township
Pennsylvania
Fayette County
No
24667
Pennsylvania State Police
Lemont Furnace
Pennsylvania
Fayette County
15456
Uniontown Station, 1070 Eberly Way, Pennsylvania
7244397111
State
Law Enforcement
Pennsylvania State Police
Brown
Brown
Brown
06/07/2026
