Victim feared accused killer; more detail on UT attack
By Jim Balloch (Contact)
Originally published 12:00 a.m., March 20, 2008
Updated 05:31 p.m., March 20, 2008
In her diary, Carrie Daugherty wrote that she feared she might one day lose her life to Micah Johnson.
That is exactly what happened, according to the Knoxville Police Department.
Early yesterday morning, her body was found outside her North Knoxville home by KPD officers who had been dispatched there after a neighbor called 911 and reported a disturbance.
This morning, Johnson, 21, of Maryville, was charged with pre-mediated first-degree murder.
Johnson, whose full name is Micah Ross Johnson, struck Daugherty several times with a blunt object, then went home and took a shower, according to KPD.
Johnson and Daugherty were acquainted but were not boyfriend and girlfriend, KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk said. He said the motive for the slaying is being withheld while the investigation continues.
Daugherty, 24, was a former University of Tennessee student and employee of Barley’s Taproom in the Old City.
“Apparently, (Johnson) was her roommate’s boyfriend,” said Daugherty’s brother, Scott Daugherty of Chattanooga. “I don’t have any idea why he would have done this.”
Daugherty was struck “more than once” with the blunt object, which has been recovered but which DeBusk declined to identify.
Johnson is also a former UT student. He was expelled last year after he was charged with the savage beating of a fellow student outside a classroom of Ayres Hall.
Daugherty lived at 804 E. Columbia Ave. near St. Mary’s Medical Center. In her diary, she had "made a previous statement