On the morning of Mother’s Day, May 8, 2022, a domestic dispute at a residence in the 900 block of East 33rd Street in Savannah ended with Vernita Michelle Johnson dead from a gunshot wound. She was 57 and the home belonged to her parents. Police identified a family member as the suspect and arrested her brother, 59-year-old Jeffery Johnson, the same day; he was charged with murder and taken to the Chatham County Detention Center.

Funeral services for Vernita Johnson were held May 17, 2022, at Southside Baptist Church, and she was buried at Greenwich Cemetery. Court filings and local officials later noted the prosecution has been affected by legal questions about Jeffery Johnson’s fitness to stand trial; as of November 2024 the case remained open while competency proceedings continued and Johnson was in custody.

If anyone knew Vernita or was in that neighborhood on May 8, 2022, does any detail about the morning help clarify what happened?