This 911 call alerted police to slayings of mother, son in Burlington County
Police learned that Ruben Johnson Jr. had killed his wife and 10-year-old son in their Burlington Township home, and turned the gun on himself, after a 911 caller said someone had reported trouble at the house.
Police learned that Ruben Johnson Jr. had killed his wife and 10-year-old son in their Burlington Township home, and turned the gun on himself, after a 911 caller said someone had reported trouble at the house.
"Someone called me and told me my son has shot his wife and son," the caller told dispatchers the night of Aug. 8, according to a recording of the call obtained Wednesday through a public-records request.
The man on the call referred several times to "my son," and identified himself as living in Marlboro, N.J. Records show that is where Ruben Johnson Sr., father of Ruben Jr., lives.
When the dispatcher asked the caller who alerted him, he replied, "I don't know who called me, somebody just called me and said it."
He said he initially thought the call was a prank, but now needed to know what had happened.
"I've called" the home, he said. "Nobody answered the phone."
Authorities found the bodies of Johnson Jr., 50; his wife, Mashanda, 48; and their son, Ruben III, known as "Tre," inside the house on Sunflower Circle.
It's unclear who initially contacted the 911 caller, who told dispatchers he lived in North Jersey. Ruben Johnson Sr. could not be reached Wednesday, and the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment.
Johnson Jr.'s friends said last week that he and his wife had a troubled marriage and that she had recently made plans to move out.
The two also were struggling financially. Angela Smith Teal, who grew up with Mashanda Johnson in Montclair, N.J., said Ruben Johnson was selling valuables from the house, including artwork.
The Johnsons' home was scheduled for a sheriff's sale in October, according to a list of the county's foreclosure sales.
Johnson Jr. was unemployed and had become a recluse after he was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes several years ago, friends said. He recently regained his vision after cataract surgery.
He and his wife also have a daughter, LoraVon, 23, who traveled from her Florida home to New Jersey after the slayings. She said on her Facebook page at the time, "I lost my two best friends. I lost the biggest part of my heart."
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