The family of a slain South Los Angeles mother of six who was found bound in her home on July 4 is pleading for a reward to be offered for information in the case.
Fatima Johnson’s daughters said they grew concerned after she failed to show up for work the day before and wasn’t responding to text messages. When they showed up at her apartment, they found a terrible scene.
Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to the 7600 block of South Western Avenue in the Manchester Square neighborhood and discovered Johnson’s hands tied, her body was wrapped in a blanket and she was unconscious. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Neighbors said they saw the perpetrator running away from the crime scene, but no arrests have been made. Whoever killed Johnson also stole her silver Lexus, her jewelry and her cellphone, relatives said.
A motive in the killing was unclear, but the incident is not gang-related, police said.
The L.A. County Coroner’s Office said Thursday that a security hold has been placed on the case by law enforcement and officials could not release the exact cause of death.
Johnson, 53, was described as a kind and generous mother who was adored in the neighborhood.
Loved ones and community members on Thursday said during a news conference that the case is not getting the attention it deserves and demanded answers in the ongoing investigation. They urged city leaders to put together a reward to encourage any possible witnesses to come forward with information.
“My family is asking for justice, we’re not asking for much,” Johnson’s daughter, Tyesha Harvey said. “Just because my mother was killed on 76th and Western in South L.A., in a drug-infested neighborhood, does not mean that she was a bad woman. It does not mean she doesn’t deserve the same due justice as if she would have been found in Beverly Hills or Hollywood Hills.”
“Fatima Johnson was a resource in South Los Angeles, and her family and the community demands the support from the Los Angeles City Council,” Daymond Johnson of the Empowerment Congress Central Neighborhood Council said.
“We have seen too many unsolved homicides in this community of Black women,” community activist Najee Ali, added. “Black women are being murdered, discarded like their lives meant nothing. And Fatima’s life meant everything to her family and to our community.”
Hours after the news conference, Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson said he was putting forward a motion for a $50,000 reward for anyone who can help lead to an arrest in the case.
“We hope that this monetary reward will motivate witnesses to come forward and, with their help, provide the family and friends of Fatima Johnson and our community with a sense of justice and closure,” Harris-Dawson said in a statement.
