Camden man arrested in April homicides of waitress and her fiance

A Camden man has been arrested in the killings of a 25-year-old waitress and her fiance, who were found shot to death in their East Camden home in April.

Gary Johnson, 37, of the 1800 block of Filmore Street, was arrested about 11:30 p.m. Thursday in Pennsauken with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service's Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Pennsauken Police Department, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday.

He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Aleshia Schmincke Hill and her fiance, John Valerio, 23. The couple were found dead April 4 in their home on the unit block of North 26th Street, shot at close range.

Dawn Schmincke, Hill's mother, said Friday of the arrest: "I'm excited. My daughter can finally rest in peace. She can finally let go. We can all let go and relax."

Schmincke said Johnson, nicknamed "G Rock," was Valerio's friend. She said she was "sick to my stomach" when she realized she had met Johnson once.

"I don't know what the motive was," she added.

To further add to the mystery, the house where her daughter and Valerio lived was ablaze Thursday evening.

Schmincke said no one was living in the house since the slayings. She heard about the fire from Valerio's sister, who called her. "The windows were blown out," she said.

A Camden fire dispatcher said the "all-hands" fire was reported at 11:27 p.m. Thursday and put under control 40 minutes later. There were no reports of anyone being in the house, the dispatcher said. The cause of the fire was still under investigation.

The mother had last seen her daughter on Sunday, April 3, when Hill had spent the evening with her mother, grandmother, and sister in her mother's South Jersey home.

Hill worked six days a week and was looking forward to her Monday off. About 7 p.m. that Sunday, her mother drove Hill back to her home.

Then, about 1:40 p.m. the next day, the couple's landlord went to the property to make a repair and called 911 after stumbling upon the gruesome scene.

Law enforcement sources and people close to the couple have said they believed the killings were committed by someone the couple let into the house, who went there looking for drugs or cash.

Schmincke said her daughter wasn't involved in drugs.

Detective Andy McNeil, of the prosecutor's office, asked about the motive in the homicides and other details, said via email: "We cannot compromise the integrity of an ongoing investigation by releasing additional information at this time."

Johnson is being held at the Camden County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Richard Wells.

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