Florida man who 'choked and bashed Judith Therianos before having sex with her corpse'

April 2024 ยท 5 minute read

Police say a man who is charged with killing a 52-year-old grandmother and having sex with her corpse had been released from jail three weeks prior to the crime. 

Timothy Johnson, 25, was arrested in connection to the murder of Judith Therianos who was visiting Florida as a tourist from Maine.  

Police say that Johnson killed Therianos, a mother-of-two and a grandmother, while they were having sex, according to WTSP.

Officials believe that Therianos may have wanted Johnson to stop and that's when he allegedly murdered her. An autopsy revealed that Therianos died from blunt force trauma.

According to the Portland Press Herald, Johnson had been out of jail for 23 days when police say he killed Therianos in March. 

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Arrest: Timothy Johnson (left), 25, was arrested in connection to the murder of Judith Therianos (right). Police say he killed her and then had sex with her corpse for hours  Judith Therianos was murdered in March

Arrest: Timothy Johnson (left), 25, was arrested in connection to the murder of Judith Therianos (right). Police say he killed her and then had sex with her corpse for hours 

He was free due to prosecutors not filing charges within 30 days of his arrest that stemmed from an alleged assault. 

Johnson was arrested January 17 on two counts of aggravated assault for 'climbing through the window of a home and allegedly threatening two people inside with a large kitchen knife,' according to the newspaper. 

Court documents said that no one was physically harmed. 

Chris LaBruzzo, Pasco County assistant state attorney, told the Herald that the Florida criminal procedure requires sworn statement from witnesses to formalize some types of charges, but the victims in this case did not come forward.  

'We have a responsibility to file charges in cases we can prove and in cases where witnesses are cooperative,' LaBruzzo told the Herald. 'We can't hold people indefinitely.' 

Even though Johnson was unable to post bail in the January assault case, he was released on February 19 from the Land O'Lakes Detention Center, 33 days after his initial arrest. 

The witnesses in the assault case came forward a few days after Johnson was released. 

The aggravated assault charges were officially filed February 25, but Johnson remained free for for roughly a month. 

It's during that time he crossed paths with Therianos, although it's unclear as to how the two met on March 13, but police believe they met at a liquor store.  

Her son, Shawn Therianos, told the Herald that she was in Florida to visit an ailing friend and to vacation.  

Video Courtesy WFTS

According to an arrest affidavit, Johnson stole a credit card from Therianos and went to Waffle House and ate before returning to have sex with her decomposing corpse, report ABC.

Police say that Johnson had sex with the dead woman's body 'for a while,' after killing her. 

Therianos' corpse was found with both her genitals and breasts exposed off of US Highway 19 in Florida, a little less than a month after she disappeared. She had been missing since March 14.

Police believe that Therianos may have met Johnson at a liquor store on March 13, as they were pictured together on the store's surveillance cameras, the Herald reported. 

Sheriff Chris Nocco said he thinks Johnson may have committed other crimes.

He was re-arrested March 23 for violating the conditions of his probation related to a June 2015 misdemeanor battery charge. 

In addition, he had also been formally arraigned on the aggravated assault charges that led to his arrest in January, LaBruzzo told the Herald. 

Police say that while Johnson was in jail, he admitted his role in Therianos' death to another inmate and separately to another acquaintance, the Herald reported. 

While they were having consensual sex in the wooded area, Therianos told him to stop, but Johnson panicked and choked her until she stopped breathing, the Herald reported. 

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Share Tragedy: Police say that Therianos may have met Johnson at a liquor store on March 13, as she was pictured with him on surveillance camera. She went missing on March 14 and her corpse was discovered a little less than a month later 

Tragedy: Police say that Therianos may have met Johnson at a liquor store on March 13, as she was pictured with him on surveillance camera. She went missing on March 14 and her corpse was discovered a little less than a month later 

Johnson pulled her dress over her head and then 'bashed her brains in,' according to a witness who heard him confess to her murder, the Herald reported.

Therianos, who had originally gone to Florida to take care of a sick friend, was last seen by another friend who lives in Florida and linked to another man. 

The friend said she last saw Therianos picking up her clothes from the sick friend's home, according to a Facebook page dedicated to finding the missing woman setup by her family and friends.

The post said that Therianos was 'riding in a newer SUV with an older man'. 

The man was described as having long white hair and a long white beard and mustache. 

'He was very skinny and went by the name Charlie.'

At that point Therianos had a black eye, according to the Facebook post, and her friend asked her how she got it. 

Therianos replied that 'she had fell but hinted to her with eyes and body language that he [Charlie] had something to do with it'. 

The friend tried to convince Therianos to stay with her, but she declined. 

She told the friend things with Charlie were 'cool now' and that he had a boat, according to the Facebook page. 

Shawn Therianos told the Herald that his mother struggled with a drinking problem. He shared that he last spoke with her the day before she was killed and said they 'didn't talk a whole lot.' 

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