Share and Follow
Inset: Fatima Johnson. Background: Cops in California investigate after Johnson was found dead (KTTV).
A California man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, marking a return to incarceration just a year after his release for previous killings. Darryl Lamar Collins, 55, was handed a life sentence for the murder of Fatima Johnson, a mother of six and grandmother of eight, who was employed at a nursing home. The conviction was announced by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office after Collins was found guilty of first-degree murder in February.
The tragic discovery of Johnson’s body was made by her daughters on July 2, 2021, in her South Los Angeles residence following a brief period during which she had been reported missing.
Prosecutors revealed disturbing details of the crime, stating, “Her cause of death was asphyxia due to neck pressure and possible smothering.” They further described that her wrists and ankles were tightly bound with shoelaces and duct tape, she was gagged with underwear, and duct tape was placed over her mouth and nose.
In the aftermath of the murder, Collins stole Johnson’s cellphone, jewelry, and her Lexus. He subsequently pawned these items and sold the car to support his drug habit.
Collins stole her cellphone, jewelry and Lexus, which he pawned and sold for drug money.
It was almost a year to the day that Collins was released from prison for committing two other murders in less than two weeks in the mid-1990s.
On Sept. 17, 1995, the then-24-year-old Collins carjacked a 28-year-old man named Derrick Reese who was using a pay phone. After stealing the car, Collins backed up and shot Reese dead. Eleven days later, Collins entered a diner in Englewood and murdered Thomas Weiss, a 44-year-old cashier. Collins knew neither man and both murders were random acts of violence.
A judge sentenced Collins to 50 years behind bars. But in 2017 the California legislature raised the cutoff for youthful offender parole from 23 to 25. Since he was 24 at the time of the slayings, he was paroled in 2020 after serving 25 years of his sentence.
“Darryl Collins took three innocent lives. Today’s sentence isn’t just about punishment, it’s also about protection from this sociopath to ensure he will never walk free again,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. “This case shows exactly what can happen when someone with a history of extreme violence is released from prison early. We can only hope that three families who have experienced unimaginable loss find some measure of peace knowing he will never again be back in our communities.”
Hochman said Collins should have never been released.
“Had the state legislature not changed the law in 2017, almost 20 years after Collins’ sentencing, raising the age cutoff from 23 to 25 for youthful offender parole, Collins would have been behind bars rather than on the street and able to senselessly and brutally take another innocent life,” he said.