Man stuffs roommate’s body into suitcase and hides it in car trunk, Oregon cops say
A man stashed his roommate’s body in a suitcase and put it in the trunk of a car in Oregon, police said.
Linson Lavell Johnson, 51, was spotted by a neighbor lugging a suitcase to the trunk of a car at his apartment complex in Salem, Oregon, on Dec. 2, the Salem Police Department said in a news release.
The caller also said they had not seen Richard Eugene Flennory, 59, in several days, police said, and he lived with Johnson.
Police responded to the complex around 10:05 a.m. and found Flennory’s body in the trunk of his car, the news release says.
Johnson was arrested and taken to the Linn County Jail. He told authorities he found Flennory dead so he put him in a suitcase to avoid “a police response,” police said in the news release.
Flennory had multiple health conditions, detectives found, which could have contributed to his death.
The medical examiner concluded there was no foul play in the man’s death, police said.
Johnson was arrested on suspicion of second-degree abuse of a corpse and a parole violation.
He was convicted on two felony charges in 2020, including first-degree forgery and unlawful possession of methamphetamine, according to online court records.
This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Man stuffs roommate’s body into suitcase and hides it in car trunk, Oregon cops say."
