Michael Johnson, 28, is scheduled to appear in court today for the alleged killing of 16 year-old Phylicia Barnes in December of 2010. Barnes was visiting a sister in the Baltimore area when she went missing. Months later her body was discovered in the Susquehanna River, where area police labeled her death a homicide.
Johnson was charged for the murder in April and pled not-guilty on June 19. He is accused of suffocating Barnes and transporting her body in a 35 gallon tub. The investigation uncovered over 500 texts and phone calls between the two during the summer before the murder.
Though it is unclear if the trial will be delayed by Johnson's attorneys, they claim that prosecutors have no evidence against him.
Barnes was a senior at Monroe's Union Academy.
