Melvin Johnson (1958 – October 2003) was an American serial killer, rapist and sex offender who was posthumously linked to at least four murders committed in Decatur, Illinois from 1984 to 1988, three of which were sexually motivated.
[1] He was paroled for that crime in 1982, whereupon he moved to Decatur and started dating John L. Woods, who served as his financial and emotional support throughout his many prison stints.
[2] On Halloween night in 1984, Johnson abducted, sexually assaulted and killed two underage cousins: 12-year-old Sherry Gordon and 10-year-old Theresa Hall.
Two days later, based on testimony provided by the boy, authorities arrested 25-year-old Bruce A. Casey and 43-year-old Erma T. Britton, who were relatives of Hopson's.
[6] Despite a lack of concrete evidence linking him to the crime, prosecutors refused to drop the charges against Casey solely based on the testimony provided by Arcadio Hopson, who had picked him from a police line-up and identified him as the assailant.
With this revelation, the Decatur Police Department officially announced that they considered him a serial killer, and would begin further investigations to seek whether they could link him to any additional crimes.