On May 29, 2000, Johnson, then 22 years old, killed Shine, an acquaintance, outside her home on Mimosa Avenue in Charlotte. Ms. Shine was a native Charlottean and was a grandmother of two at the time of her murder. Johnson stabbed Shine 10 times during an altercation and left the scene as Shine lay bleeding to death on her next-door neighbors’ front porch. Johnson fled to New York within days.
DNA testing led to Johnson’s indictment for the murder in 2009. Johnson denied any knowledge of the crime when questioned by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Homicide Detectives in 2007.
At the time of the questioning, Johnson was in prison in South Carolina serving a sentence for robbery. At trial Johnson testified that he did stab Shine but did so in self-defense. The jury found that the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Johnson did not act in self-defense, but rather that he acted with premeditation, deliberation, and the specific intent to kill Ms. Shine. The jury found Johnson guilty of first-degree murder, as numerous family members of Shine’s looked on. Johnson received the mandatory sentence under North Carolina law of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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Detectives from the CMPD Homicide Cold Case Unit have arrested 32-year old Tyrone Jamar Johnson for the murder of Ms. Johnnie Mae Shine that occurred in May 2000 on Mimosa Avenue.
Physical evidence recovered from the crime scene recently linked Johnson to the murder. A Grand Jury indicted Johnson for the murder in September of 2009 while he was serving time in prison in South Carolina on unrelated charges.
Johnson was extradited back to North Carolina on Tuesday and was officially charged with the murder. Johnson is currently in the custody of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.
Anyone with additional information related to this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704.334.1600 or lead Cold Case Detective S. Furr at 704.336.7689.
** This is the 29th murder case that the Cold Case Unit has cleared since its inception in 2003.