Following the fatal crushing of his fiancée in 2019 and the subsequent concealment of her remains in his apartment for several days during the woman’s husband’s frantic search for her, Virginia’s Dustin James Wilder received a sentence of slightly more than two decades in prison.
Faith Ann Johnson, 44, was murdered at the Norfolk residence of Wilder, 40, in October 2019. In March of this year, Wilder pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and concealing her corpse, according to online court records examined by Law&Crime.
Prosecutors said in a statement released on December 1 announcing the 20-year-and-six-month sentence for the murder of the Virginia Beach woman that Wilder dialed 911 near midnight on October 25, 2019, and informed the operator, “My girlfriend has died.”
“I am fairly certain that I am the culprit,” stated Wilder.
Wilder was apprehended in front of a 7-Eleven convenience store, according to deputy commonwealth attorney William Maydosz, who stated that police were dispatched.
Norfolk police reported that when Wilder consented to let police into his residence, they discovered Johnson’s body “under a pile of blankets on the kitchen floor.”
Subsequently, an autopsy would disclose that Johnson sustained an extraordinary fifty fractures along her ribcage, which seemed to have transpired simultaneously with her demise. The examiner discovered “dozens more” rib injuries in varying stages of recovery, in addition to “blunt force trauma to her head” and “trauma to her neck consistent with prior strangulation,” according to the police.
Prosecutors stated, “A forensic anthropologist concluded that Mrs. Johnson’s injuries indicated she was crushed to death while lying on a firm surface.”
According to the initial interview conducted by police in October 2019, Wilder disclosed that he and Johnson engaged in joint substance use and occasionally engaged in physical altercations. Additionally, Wilder initially informed law enforcement that they had been under the influence of drugs for several days prior to discovering her remains.
He stated that he experienced a blackout one day and awoke to discover her on the floor.
Wilder reportedly acknowledged to police that he had been abusing alcohol and crack cocaine prior to this incident, as reported by the Virginian-Pilot. Wilder stated that he observed her corpse on the ground, then fell unconscious before awakening at a later time. He stated that was when he realized Johnson had not moved.
He told police in 2019 that Johnson had visited his residence “several days prior” and then speculated that she had overdosed. The police observed that Wilder had open incisions on the knuckles of both hands during the interview.
Johnson’s spouse, whose identity remained unknown to the public, had reported her missing on October 22, mere days prior to Wilder’s dialing of 911.
The man informed authorities that he had not received any communication from his spouse for several days. When she failed to return home, he observed that her vehicle was located in Wilder’s driveway. However, despite knocking on Wilder’s door, he received no response.
Wilder and Johnson were acquaintances, Johnson informed authorities in 2019. However, he also reported to the police that he occasionally observed bruises on his wife’s body following her interactions with Wilder. This was extremely disquieting.
The deputy commonwealth attorney’s office stated last week that Johnson’s husband discovered a charge on his wife’s debit card on October 23, 2019, more than a day after she was reported missing.
It marked the sole usage of her card during the preceding 72 hours.
The transaction occurred at a 7-Eleven located in Norfolk. Surveillance footage was obtained with the assistance of law enforcement, and officers reported discovering footage of Wilder approaching the store in Faith Ann Johnson’s vehicle upon examination.
Following this, Wilder entered the store with the intention of making a purchase.
On two separate occasions, additional footage obtained from the same 7-Eleven showed Wilder parking the woman’s vehicle before entering to make a purchase using her debit card. Wilder made an attempt to use his wife’s card, which had been suspended by the husband of Johnson, for the third time.
In March of this year, Wilder entered a guilty plea to both second-degree murder and concealment of a deceased corpse. His utmost permitted sentence is twenty years and six months, and he has been ordered by the court to compensate the Johnson family with six hundred dollars in restitution.
As per the 2019 report by local CBS affiliate WTKR, Johnson was the parent of a 10-year-old son at the time of her passing.
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