JOHNSON, Russell Maurice

Russell Maurice Johnson was once a handsome man with a great physique. He was a body builder and auto worker. He used his strength to scale the outsides of buildings as high as 15 stories. He would go from balcony to balcony, looking for an unlocked door. He told police after his arrest he couldn’t help himself. He would get a weird urge to kill, climb a balcony, find a victim and just start strangling. He would then tidy up.

He was very good at tidying and cleaning the scenes. Coroners ruled the deaths of Johnson’s first three victims were all accidental or natural causes.

Johnson was born in 1947 in Canada. He suffered from mental health issues beginning at a young age. In 1969, Johnson voluntarily entered a London psychiatric hospital for treatment. It was for sexual deviancy. Treatment did not work.

Johnson sexually assaulted almost a dozen women who survived. His stalking grounds were London and Guelph, Ontario. His M.O. was to climb into the homes of women through unlocked balcony doors. Why were some doors unlocked at night? First, it was the early to mid 1970s, a more innocent time. Second, because if you live on the 15th floor, you think you’re safe. But Johnson once scaled a building, balcony to balcony, to the 15th floor, only to find the balcony doors locked.

Media called the unknown rapist and killer The Bedroom Strangler and The Balcony Rapist.

He used his physical strength to great advantage. He also used his mental health issues to great advantage. He was a meticulously clean person who washed his hands 15 times a day. He made one victim’s bed. When he found dirty dishes in the sink at another victim’s home, he washed them.

Johnson’s first murder was Mary Catherine Hicks in October, 1973. She was found in her bed, in a natural sleeping position. Her death was attributed to an allergic reaction to medication. Johnson had broken into her home and watched her sleep for some time before killing her. She was found with a pillow partially covering her face.

Alice Jane Ralston was found dead in her apartment on November 30, 1973. There were no obvious signs of trauma. Her death was attributed to hardened arteries. She was 27.

When Eleanor Diane Hartwick died in March, 1974, her death was attributed to a reaction to prescription drugs. Johnson had posed her with a book in her hand, as if she had fallen asleep in bed.

Doris “Dodi” Ethel Brown lived with her children after divorcing her husband of 30 years. Brown was found in bed by one of her children with the blankets tucked up under her chin. Brown’s death was attributed to pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs). She had blood in her throat and rectum. She had been sexually assaulted after death.

The killer was changing his behavior. Brown was murdered in a way that police still did not know they were dealing with a killer. Johnson’s last three murders showed a vicious escalation in his crime. Each suffered violent deaths and was a victim of necrophilia. He was not covering his tracks anymore.

At the time, the investigation into the slayings was the largest in London’s history.

Just a few days before her death, Diane Beitz, 23, received a delivery of flowers from an unknown stranger. She was strangled on New Year’s Eve, 1974. She and her fiancé became engaged the night before he found her body in her home. She was strangled with her bra, her hands were bound behind her with a nylon. Johnson had bound and sexually assaulted the corpse. Before the discovery of hey body, Johnson had called police to the area as a ruse.

On April 15, 1977, Johnson strangled Louella (Luella) Jeanne George in her 4th floor home. He made her bed to try to cover the crime. She was strangled to death, then sexually assaulted. Johnson stole some underwear and jewellery but disposed of them in the area. George was found by a co-worker after not showing up to work at the hospital across the street.

In July 1977, Johnson changed his pattern again when he attacked Donna Veldboom. He cut Veldboom across the chest. He said later he wanted to crawl inside her to be warm and safe. After death, she was sexually assaulted, bathed and posed. She lived in the same building as the killer.

Police finally arrested Russell Maurice Johnson on July 28, 1977.

After his July, 1977 arrest, Johnson pleads not guilty on charges of first degree murder for Veldboom, Beitz and George. He was not charged with the other murders. Despite pleading not guilty, Johnson had given an unsigned  statement to police. It was admitted as evidence.

On February 1, 1978, Johnson is found not guilty by reason of insanity. He has been in a maximum security mental hospital since February 1978.

Around 2005, he began chemical castration with Lupron. This reversible treatment lowers testosterone and “turn down the volume” of sexualized thinking. Then, with therapy, the user can change his or her sexually deviant behavior. Johnson does not want to change his behavior. Psychiatrists describe Johnson as a sexual sadist, lust murderer and necrophile.

In August 2019, he applied for leniency and was denied because he thinks he is fine as he is and does not need to change. He applies every year for some kind of leniency such as escorted passes and medium security. (This is from a guy who could climb 15 storeys with his bare hands). He is denied every year.

Russell Maurice Johnson has not been written about as the sole subject of a book.  Johnson is covered in Canadian Monsters: 25 Horrific Canadian Serial Killers by Robert Keller (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2016) . This book is an interesting, easy read for anyone interested in Canadian serial killers.

He can be found in Trail Of Blood: A Canadian Murder Odyssey by Frank Jones (McGraw-Hill Ryerson 1981) , and Cold North Killers: Canadian Serial Murder by Lee Mellor (Dundurn 2012) .

Johnson also appears in the very interesting book, Murder City: The Untold Story of Canada’s Serial Killer Capital, 1959-1984 by Michael Arntfield (FriesenPress 2015) . It includes an excellent section on Johnson and, more importantly, some of his victims. Arntfield’s book also looks at the police system in London, Ontario, which, for a time that inculdes Johnson’s murders, was indeed the serial killer capital.