Published: Saturday, December 04, 2010, 5:30 AM
? Willie Young had pleaded with his sister to leave her husband, telling her to come live with him until she could get on her feet.
? Sherry Young Johnson, a 39-year-old mother of three, was reluctant to do so, but said she would consider it after the holidays.
? "I tried all I could," Young said Friday. "She told me after the first of the year, she would go."? But instead of possibly ending in divorce, the Johnsons' marriage of almost two decades ended in murder, police said.
? Authorities say Anthony Dewayne Johnson stabbed his wife to death while she was in bed early Friday.
? He then showered, loaded the couple's three children in the car and dropped them at their grandparents' house before turning himself into police.
? Anthony Dewayne Johnson told authorities he and his wife had argued about his lack of employment.
? "It was ridiculous, unnecessary domestic violence," said Jefferson County sheriff's Chief Deputy Randy Christian. "I am so sorry for those children. They lost two parents and are going to need a lot of love and care."
? Anthony Dewayne Johnson, 41, walked into the Birmingham Police Department's headquarters on First Avenue North just after 2 a.m., told them he had killed his wife, and gave authorities his address in Pinson.
? Birmingham police notified Jefferson County sheriff's deputies, who went to the home on Stonebriar Trace, but could not get an answer at the door, Christian said.
? Fire and rescue workers forced entry, and found 39-year-old Sherry Young Johnson dead in her bed in the back bedroom, stabbed multiple times.
? Authorities later learned the husband had dropped the couple's three children -- a 12-year-old son and 9-year-old twin daughters -- off at his mother's house en route to the police station.
? He told the children their mother was sick, Christian said.
? Anthony Dewayne Johnson was being held without bond in the county jail on a charge of murder.
? Young said his sister was the "baby" of their family and raised in Pratt City. She had confided in him that she and her husband had been arguing, he said.
? He wasn't employed. She ran a successful hair salon on Lomb Avenue called Sherry's Unlimited Designs.
? "She worked hard, and she just loved people," her brother said. "She was an outgoing person, and so welcoming."
? "And she loved her kids," Young said, "very much."
? On Friday, more than a dozen co-workers and clients gathered outside of the west Birmingham salon, openly crying and hugging.
? "It hurts," said Tabitha Hough, a client and close friend of the victim for the past 15 years. "I feel like my sister is gone."
? Hough said she had spoken to Sherry Johnson on Thursday evening as they confirmed Hough's appointment for Friday.
? "I didn't think this is how Friday would end," Hough said.
? Hough said Sherry Johnson was funny, and a compassionate listener.
? "You know a hairdresser is like a therapist," she said with a smile.
? Hough said Sherry Johnson told her to keep coming in to have her hair done -- on the house -- during a time when Hough was having financial struggles amid marital troubles.
? "That says something about her," Hough said.
? Asked what he would like people to most remember about his sister, Young said, "She just had a caring heart."
Join the conversation by clicking to comment or e-mail Robinson at crobinson@bhamnews.com
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.
