Georgia man Johnny Wright gets 30 years for ‘76 Missouri murder

For more than 33 years, Johnny Wright was a free man. Then, he inadvertently tued himself in.

Wright, most recently of Lawrenceville, was found guilty in January of second-degree murder in the August 1976 disappearance of 23-year-old Missouri college student Rebecca Doisy. On Monday, the 66-year-old Wright was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with his first chance of parole coming in 12 years, in a Columbia, Mo., courtroom.

Despite being a suspect in Doisy's disappearance, Wright eluded police for decades by assuming the name Errol Edwards. He moved from Seattle to Texas and to the Atlanta area, where he lived in Cobb, Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties and raised a family. In 1997, he bought a home in Lawrenceville.

Georgia voting records show that Wright registered to vote under both names, but used different birth dates. "Errol Edwards" was two years younger than Wright, according to voting records.

But when he walked into the Lawrenceville police station in September 2009 to ask for a background check for a prospective employer, Wright sealed his own fate. That background check tued up an arrest warrant from 700 miles away in Missouri. He was arrested the next day when he retued to pick up the background check.

"He basically paid $15 to get extradited to Missouri," Capt. Greg Vaughn with the Lawrenceville police station told the AJC.

When he requested the background check, Wright used his real name and presented a state-issued identification card he had just been issued, Vaughn said. The card contained Wright's real birthday, too.

Wright's arrest came as a shock to Doisy's family, who believed he had died. Doisy's body was never found, but her sister said the family always believed he'd been responsible.

"We are in stunned disbelief," Doisy's younger sister Kathleen Doisy told the AJC after Wright's arrest. "Where has he been for 33 years?"

Becky Doisy was an aspiring teacher who was working part-time as a waitress while taking a break from college, Kathleen Doisy said. It was while working at Eie's Steak House that Doisy first encountered Wright.

Famous for its lunch counter and hamburgers known as "chopped cows," Eie's was a hip place to work and remains a local landmark today.

Wright had repeatedly asked Becky Doisy to have a drink with him and finally she agreed, Kathleen Doisy previously told the AJC. Several co-workers and friends saw Becky Doisy with Wright on the last day she was seen alive: Aug. 5, 1976.

Two days later, Doisy's family reported her missing when she failed to show up for work, something uncharacteristic for her, Kathleen Doisy said. Wright was initially questioned by police, but released due to a lack of evidence.

William Simmons, who spent time in a St. Louis methadone clinic with Wright in the years following Becky Doisy's disappearance, testified that Wright bragged about "offing" a woman in Columbia when several other patients were boasting of their role in a St. Louis killing. Simmons' account to Columbia police following a burglary arrest in suburban St. Louis led to charges being filed 26 years ago.

During Wright's January trial, a resident of her apartment building reported seeing Doisy leave with him. Another witness said she later ran into the pair at the Heidelberg restaurant, a popular hangout near the university campus.

Kathleen Doisy took the stand Monday, testifying that her sister's death had always haunted the family. Her father, Robert Doisy, in particular, had always struggled to move beyond his daughter's death. Robert Doisy died last spring before he could lea the outcome of Wright's trial.

"I wish that my father had lived to see this day," Kathleen Doisy said after Wright's sentencing. "I've waited for this for almost 35 years."

"Everyone goes through life thinking that bad things happen to other people," she added. "The experience just changes you. I want to be optimistic, but I'm very fearful."

A woman that answered the phone Sunday night at Wright's Lawrenceville home declined to comment.