Bio

Martin Allen Johnson was born on December 19, 1956. Before the murder case, Johnson worked at a sewage treatment plant in Oregon. Investigators later found that he kept personal information about many teenage girls on a computer at his workplace.

Court and prosecution records described Johnson as having a long history of targeting underage girls. Witnesses testified that he used drugs, alcohol, and other tactics to gain access to girls. He also reportedly used petitions at public events as a way to collect names and phone numbers from teenagers.

By 1998, Johnson was living in Oregon and had contact with 15-year-old Heather Fay Fraser. After Fraser disappeared, Johnson quickly became a person of interest, then fled the state. He was later located in Florida after a tip connected to America’s Most Wanted.

Murder Story

On February 23, 1998, 15-year-old Heather Fay Fraser disappeared in Oregon. Investigators later determined that she had gone to Martin Allen Johnson’s home in Washington County. The prosecution argued that Johnson drugged, sexually assaulted, and strangled Fraser before moving her body.

Fraser’s body was found the next day in the Columbia River near Warrenton, Oregon. Prosecutors said Johnson transported her body to the Astoria area and threw it from a bridge into the river. Evidence later presented in court included witness testimony, Johnson’s connection to Fraser, and forensic evidence, including a bloodstain in Johnson’s vehicle that matched Fraser’s DNA.

Johnson fled Oregon after investigators began focusing on him. On February 21, 1999, he was arrested in the Orlando, Florida area after America’s Most Wanted aired a segment about the case. He was returned to Oregon to face prosecution.

In 2001, Johnson was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death. However, his conviction was later overturned after courts found that his defense team had provided inadequate representation.

Johnson was retried in 2019. On November 8, 2019, a Washington County jury found him guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder. Because Oregon law had changed, prosecutors could no longer seek the death penalty in the retrial. On November 14, 2019, Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.