True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: The Disturbing Murder of Johnia Berry | True Crime Stories - Holiday Homicide

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

The mystery deepens as the investigation continues. In True Crime with Kimbyr, Part 2 of the Johnia Berry case dives further into the aftermath of the Christmas night murder, uncovering new details, investigative turns, and the growing urgency for answers. Kimbyrleigha carefully examines suspects, evidence, and the lingering questions that still haunt this case. How close were authorities to the truth, and what crucial pieces may have been overlooked? With empathy and insight, True Crime with Kimbyr continues to seek justice for Johnia Berry in this gripping continuation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They could ascertain Jana's approximate movements due to the amount of blood, the smears, the trail. She was able to make it out of her bedroom after multiple wounds. And we will get to the autopsy. She made it to the living room. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package.

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This was a big one in the living room. At some point, with the will to live, she was able to get up off of that floor. and get out of her apartment door. And she knocked on the one next to her. No answer. And like I said, she somehow made her way all the way down those stairs

to every other door. But she was just too weak. And when Jana's mom became aware that her daughter had attempted to save her own life and no one helped her, it was beyond her understanding. It was heartbreaking and devastating. It was also really disturbing to her

because authorities did let her know that even though they can't guarantee it, There is a possibility that if someone would have called an ambulance sooner, Jana could have survived. They could have done surgeries to keep her alive. This was what was the most heartbreaking to me, envisioning your child's last moments. That's something that I would replay over and over again in my head

because I'm already doing that now. I can only imagine if this happened to someone that I love and I care about the way a mother does. and someone she will never see again. Back at the crime scene, investigators finally locate the weapon that was used in this crime. And to their surprise, it's actually a kitchen knife from Jana's own kitchen. So this started to lend itself to one of their first theories, which was that Jason, her roommate, was involved. The fact that this weapon came straight from their own kitchen led the investigators to believe that this was a crime of passion,

especially because of the location of her wounds and how many of them there were. They thought it might have to do with Jason being rejected. And that was their working theory at this point. The weapon was found right outside Jana's door. It's right here in this photo. And you can see, the knife is almost bent in half. This is how much force was used.

It was bagged as evidence. Later, they found a fingerprint as well as hair and blood on this knife. Now let's talk about what they found at the back door. There are stairs leading down from the back door of this apartment. They found blood in a trail from the back door down the staircase. It was in a less significant amount. This is why they asked Jason which door he used because they thought that it was interesting

that Jana had sustained so many wounds, and Jason had not. They took swabs to test his blood. But now they're also thinking, if Jason's telling the truth, whoever this blood belongs to could be the person that did this. When these type of crimes occur, and force is used, we obviously know how slippery the weapon can become.

A lot of times the assailant actually gets injured in the process, so that is why they were interested in the wound on Jason's hand, because a slip of a knife. They also determined because of where the trail was that the person was right-handed. It coincided with the fact that would have been holding the knife in that hand, and that is where the blood trail was down the right side of the staircase handrail. So now, their next step would be to attempt to either eliminate Jason, by finding out if there was somebody else in that area treated for a significant hand wound

on the right hand on the night of the crime or sometime thereafter. Or finding out it was Jason's blood. They also needed to find out about the shoe print that they found on the cardboard box in Jason's room. These were their two biggest clues right now. Meanwhile, they also have to move on to another man in Jana's life. Another person who could have had the passion to lead them to do something like this. It was the other Jason. Jason White, her fiancé.

Jason had to be notified about losing his fiancé just like everyone else had been. Jason was 600 miles away in Lansing, Michigan, when his future mother-in-law Joan Barry called him at 10 a.m. to give him the devastating news. Just 12 hours earlier, Jonna had been alive speaking with him on the phone. It would have been shocking to get a call like this. When Joan told Jason,

he let out a frightening scream and it was so loud that it was heard outside of his apartment door. A neighbor, Melissa, was so concerned that she went over to see what was wrong and all she saw him do was just sit there hysterically crying. When he could finally speak, he told Melissa what was going on and he couldn't do anything for himself. She had to help him to pack his things,

to get him to the airport, get him on that flight because he needed to get by John's side as soon as possible. Jason was beside himself, but that didn't matter to police. As soon as he got into town, they asked him to come in for an interview. You. Investigators questioned Jason White for four hours to determine whether he had any involvement. They wanted to know all about their relationship. They asked him, are you a jealous guy?

Jana was very pretty. Did you get jealous if she was talking other guy, living with another guy? But Jason swore that him and Jana had a great relationship and they were in love and he had nothing to do with her murder. They found through phone records that John had talked to Jason until about 11.30 p.m. on the night she was murdered. During his interview, Jason White told investigators that him and Jana spoke almost every night until she drifted off to sleep. They questioned whether Jason White would have been able to drive from Michigan to Tennessee or fly or take a train, carry out this crime at the time they believe it occurred, and then get back to Michigan. But when they looked into all this, there was no way he could have accomplished it. Because of this, Jason White, John's fiance, was cleared of suspicion. No one had anything bad to say about either of them.

Both Jana and Jason's friends all loved them and said they were great people, that they didn't have any enemies and they had a loving relationship. John's family also loved having Jason White in their lives, and they were looking forward to him becoming their son-in-law. The entire very family, eagerly, anticipated Jana's wedding. But now they were planning Johnna's funeral.

It was all too unreal. Three days after her murder, Jana was laid to rest in Bristol, Tennessee. And it rained through the entire funeral. Sadly, Johna would never be alive to experience her wedding, but she was wearing both her wedding dress and her engagement ring.

Jason wanted her to keep it. Of course. And he put that ring on her finger for the last time as she was laid to rest. Unfortunately, it would not slide onto her ring finger due to how swollen it was, so we had to put it on her pinky. Jana's murder ripped a large hole in her parents' hearts. As far as Mike and Joan Barry were concerned, their daughter, Jana, had no enemies, and they had no idea why anyone would want to hurt her. Jonna love life so much. Her parents couldn't even imagine a world without her in it. Things would never be the same for the Barry family.

During her funeral, everyone commented on her roommate Jason's behavior. There were many people there, especially her family, that were mad that he even showed up. They really believed he had something to do with her murder. The fact that he didn't try to help her or stay behind to see if she got out alive was an issue. It's something that many of John's friends and family members could not understand. Why leave her? Some people said that he acted weird. He was too calm, but he had just been through a traumatic experience. Even though investigators had done as much as they could to rule Jason out of the picture, they did have a theory that made sense to them. They think that Jason had shown interest in Jana, and she rejected him, which caused him to

stab her any fit of rage. So investigators returned to Johnna's apartment with Jason after the murder and asked him to walk through the crime scene. Jason recounted the horrific events of that morning in December, and investigators were actually pretty surprised by his lack of emotion. In their view, Jason might be emotionally avoiding describing the murder because he committed it. Or maybe he's just dealing with the experience of this trauma in his own way. He was just so matter of fact.

Even Jason's girlfriend Stephanie started to question things. Even though he maintained his innocence, there was just this what if lingering in the back of her mind. And that must be really hard. You want to trust the person you love. You don't want to believe they did anything like this. But at the same time, do you really know a person? A crime lab tested the blood from the apartment

and the blood drops by the back door. The DNA discovered at the crime scene matched Jana and Jason, but also a third person. An unknown male. Finally, the DNA results confirmed Jason's story. Someone else was there. Someone else was injured. someone else bled and fled.

This DNA was on a light switch, on the weapon, and outside the back door, and down that staircase I showed you that leads out of the back of the apartment. Jason's blood was not found in this location. It was found in the front, on the doorknob and the doorlock confirming his story. Thus, finally clearing him as a suspect. However, the allegations against him tarnished Jason's reputation. Not only was he traumatized and injured after hearing, not only was he injured and traumatized after hearing his roommate die.

He had to live with survivors' guilt, wishing that he could have done something more, but he was also accused of being her murderer. And because of all this, he had to leave town. He moved to Colorado with his brother. He was suffering from chronic pain and reoccurring nightmares. And that's if he could fall asleep because he was also dealing with insomnia. Since Jason was terrified of living alone, he stayed with his brother for almost two years.

Unfortunately, Jason's health care only covered about a quarter of his hospital bills, and the financial strain was debilitating for him. He was never the same after this incident. Although investigators repeatedly accused Jason of having superficial wounds, he later came forward and said that he suffered a collapsed lung as a result of the attack.

There's nothing superficial about an injury like that. And looking back, I feel bad for Jason. Being wounded in such a traumatic, way, it's mentally taxing, even if the wounds weren't that deep as the ones that killed Jana. That emotional pain, it runs deep. We do not know what it's like to be in that situation. So I try really hard not to place judgment on him. After clearing Jason, investigators were even more determined to find out who the DNA belonged to. They were excited to run this DNA and Jana's family finally thought they were going to get answers. But there was no match in the CODIS database.

And that's very frustrating. It usually means the person who committed this crime either hadn't been in trouble with the law before or they had, but the crime didn't warrant providing a DNA sample. They were back to not having any viable leads or suspects. They needed to know who else was involved in Jana's life and whether there was anyone that they should be looking at. So they began interviewing her coworkers.

And several of her coworkers from Zales thought that her murder may have something to do with what happened in that parking lot a few hours before her murder. Her manager Diana Johnson told police that another co-worker had walked Jana to her car, but apparently a Chevy blazer kept circling them as though they were watching the girls. And then when Jana got in her car, the SUV followed her out of the parking lot. The police looked into this, but they did not get any further leads.

Then the neighbor started coming forward. Remember, they do not have all the details we do, so they were reporting being woken up at 4 a.m. with the sound of someone frantically pounding on their doors. At least two neighbors said that they heard the sound around the same time. When they're explaining this, they're thinking back through everything they do know, and they said they assumed it was the assailant. Not Jana.

After Jana's murder, Brendan Park Apartments was buzzing with rumors when authorities were coming in and out of her unit. the common area was still being used, but the apartment complex replaced that bloody carpet within days. And then they said something. They said that her death was a result of DV. That was not correct. This wasn't a dispute between a couple or family member. No.

This made it even worse because the media and the public did not want to stop looking in her roommate Jason's direction, even though he had been cleared by investigators. Now they're relying even more on Jason's description of the assailant. And the sketch they released, here's what it looks like. This was being passed out everywhere. John's family would spend hours handing out hundreds, if not thousands of flyers, throughout her community and beyond. They needed answers, no matter what it took.

Her father said that he would spend the rest of his life finding out who did this to his daughter. The autopsy report had come in. There were at least 20. 20 wounds all over. Face, arms, midsection, chest, back, defensive wounds. It was absolutely horrifying what she went through. Jana's manner of death was clearly homicide, and the cause was loss of blood from multiple stab wounds.

Jana died from her wounds, from bleeding out. The community is so determined to find out who did this. to find out who did this. They cannot believe this person is walking among them. Could be living in the apartment complex. After that composite sketch was released in the media and distributed

by John's friends and family, a credible lead emerged. The tip was that there were a group of boys that had been committing robberies near John's neighborhood around the same time of the murder. And one of these boys was a 19-year-old named Michael Percival.

He only lived one to two. miles away from Brendan Park Apartments, and he also looked very similar to the sketch, which is why this triggered someone to call in. There was also an outstanding arrest warrant for Michael in regard to a totally unrelated crime. So investigators brought him in for questioning. And when he was brought in, his shoes were the first thing that investigators looked at. They were size 11, earth sole slip-ons pointing a picture here. They're like a suede out-soul with a very distinctive bottom. The shoes looked at the same. exactly like the ones that could have made the print on that cardboard in Jason's bedroom.

So investigators are excited. They think they might have found their guy. And they contact a district attorney so that they could get a warrant to collect the shoes as well as DNA and fingerprints. Meanwhile, while they're waiting, they begin to question Michael, asking him, where were you on the night of the crime? And shockingly, Michael starts telling them everything. He admits to playing a role in both John's boyfriend. murder and Jason stabbing. Investigators cannot believe this.

Michael revealed that Jason and Jana owed money to a drug dealer. Michael was a drug dealer's friend and drove him to Brendan Park Apartments on December 6, 2004, to collect payment from Jason and Johnna. However, he was waiting, and when his friend didn't show back up to the car after a few minutes, Michael headed to Jason and John's apartment. That's when he saw the drug dealer stabbing them. and he described the entire layout of the apartment in detail. There were some issues, though.

The more that Michael talked, the less sense his story was making. And as a result, the investigator started to doubt his confession. There was no match between his DNA, his fingerprints, or the shoes. According to the police, Michael just wanted to be in the spotlight. He wanted to be involved in a high-profile case. That is sick. That is such a waste of time. how evil leading the investigators in the wrong direction.

But of course, he was ruled out as a suspect and the case comes to a dead end once again. Mike and Joan Barry, along with the Knox County Sheriff's Department. They announced in February 2005 a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest concerning the murder of John A. Berry. As a matter of fact, Joan called the investigators and the police every single day asking for an update.

During a press conference, Mike Berry said they needed to get the murderer of his daughter off the streets and prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law. He wanted people to keep focus on what's important, finding out who murdered Jonna on December 6, 2004. Johnna's award fund received 5,000 from Carol Sund, Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation. The foundation honors Carol Sund, her daughter, Julie, and their friend, Solvina Pelosi that were killed in 1999 by serial killer named Carrie. stainer in Yosemite Mountains. An additional $5,000 came from an anonymous source, and eventually the reward went up to $75,000. But even as more tips came in, nothing solid came out of them. And years went by with no answer. However, the Barry family never gave up. They were pressing

authorities to do more and more, especially for victims of these types of crimes. They needed to keep John's case alive. And even though John's parents lived in Georgia, they would frequent drive out to Knoxville to hand out flyers and hang posters. Joan had a goal and that was to keep her daughter in the public eye. So she would call Tennessee news stations all the time. Several grocery chains in Tennessee actually featured John's picture and the reward information on their delivery trucks. So as they drove up and down the interstate, investigators hoped that someone would recognize something about her case. The entire time Joan Barry worked tirelessly for her daughter. She was all also working a full-time job. It's like having two full-time jobs to dedicate yourself to. In 2007, a break came in John's case because of Joan and Mike's dedication to keeping their daughter's name in the public eye.

On one of those many highways throughout Tennessee, a driver noticed John's billboard and he saw the composite sketch, and he thought it looked like a man he knew. Someone named Taylor Olson, this tip caught investigators attention. investigators' attention because he did resemble the composite sketch, even more so than that guy who gave the false confession. Taylor was also a young man. He was in his early 20s, and he was from a very

affluent family. Taylor Olson was born in 1985 in Eugene, Oregon, and had a 16-month-old son. When his family was interviewed, they said that Taylor was a creative young man who wrote incredible poems, and he was a talented artist, that he had a loving heart and a wonderful, infectious way to make people laugh and smile. They also said that he had a passion and talent for riding dirt bikes and a deep love for animals, especially his beloved dog, Paris. He loves spending quality time with friends and family, and he definitely didn't sound like the type of guy that they were looking for. And even when they show Jason, the roommate, Taylor's picture, he cannot confirm that that's the guy that stabbed him and Jana that night.

So investigators are not too sure about this tip. They've already wasted their time with the other guy they thought it could be. They don't want to waste their time again. But they realize when running his information that Taylor had been arrested before. However, it wasn't for anything like this. While investigating Taylor Olson,

they do notice that he has an outstanding warrant for a probation violation. So they arrested him to bring him in for questioning. During this detention, in July of 2007, Taylor Olson voluntarily provides a DNA sample. When he's questioned about Johnna's murder, he denies involvement at all. The DNA test results were delayed for several months

due to a backlog at the crime lab. So in the meanwhile, Taylor Olson is just sitting in custody and investigators are waiting patiently for the outcome of the tests. Finally, December 20th, 2007 investigators on Johna's case received the call that they have been waiting for. We hear this all the time,

and we're like, Three years, it's been three years. They have a match. Taylor Olson's DNA was a match for the blood found on the back staircase. His DNA was discovered in the hallway, the living room, the door handle, and that staircase. And one of his fingerprints was on the murder weapon. They are confident it was Taylor Olson who murdered Jonna. Again, they brought him back in for questioning and to confront him about what they found.

And again, Taylor denied killing. Jana. He kept saying he didn't know how his blood could have gotten there well. Investigators answered him saying, it's because you were there. That's why. However, this time, investigators had forensic evidence at their disposal. After two days of interrogating him and attempting several different techniques, they got a confession. They had to do like the good cop, bad cop. I saw this entire interview, despite Taylor denying it over and over again and refusing to back down, These investigators were persistent, and it paid off because he finally confessed. According to Taylor, he and a friend who lived near Jana tried to steal a car from the Brendan Park apartments.

They were walking around the parking lot, and they were pulling on the door handles to cars. They were looking for one that was unlocked so they could hotwire it. Well, another resident saw him and his friend acting really suspiciously in the parking lot, and so he yelled at them to get out of there. Taylor's friend fled the scene, but tiller, Taylor decided he's going to stay back and continue looking for a vehicle. He wasn't having any luck. So he decided that he's going to start to try to open some doors to apartments

so that he could find some keys, you know, do the little thing where you look around for whose keys they are by peep-peep in the parking lot. And he was just going to use those keys to take a car. So Taylor was walking around, turning the doorknobs to see if any of the apartments had open doors. And that's when he stumbled upon Jason and, Jana's apartment. He was at the back door, turned the knob, and the door opened smoothly. He said he used his phone as a light source, and he illuminated the apartment and walked around in his eerie glow, trying to locate some keys. He made his way around the kitchen, the living

room, the foyer, nothing there. That's when he went into Jana's room as she slept. He crept beside her bed. He opened her bedside table, and he began to rummage the floor. He was in the room. through it. But as he did, he says that all of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his arm and a woman's voice saying something like, who are you? Taylor assumed that Jana was sleeping with a knife and stabbed him when she saw him standing there in the room, not knowing who he was. After he realized he was stabbed, he said he panicked and he tried to grab the knife and there was a struggle. And then finally, when he gained control of it, he began to frantically stab Johnna. Well, the investigators were not buying this version of the events. They believe he grabbed

the knife when he was rummaging through drawers in the kitchen. Because when he was not successful in locating keys, he knew he was going to go into those bedrooms. And he wanted to arm himself. He went into Jana's room, and once she woke up, she screamed. And they think he stabbed her to stop her from making a scene or from identifying him. Taylor told investigators he had no recollection of Jason ever being there and does not remember injuring him or struggling with a second person. After his arraignment while he was walking out of the courthouse sobbing, he told the media he didn't mean to kill Jonna that it was an accident. And he had the nerve to say, I ruined my whole life. Joan wasn't buying this and had no pity. It was no accident that he went

into Jana's apartment and then into her room. And no accident that he was attempting to steal her car. Jana Berry was in the prime of her life. She was about to get married and to go back to school. He took her life. Taylor ruined Jana's life and her family's lives, not his. A million dollar bail was set for Taylor after he was charged with Johnna's murder.

Still, he begged investigators to believe him. He said it wasn't him. He even started telling a new version of events and blaming the crime on the friend that he said he was with, Noah Cox. But investigators had no doubt that they could get a conviction against Taylor at trial because there was no other DNA or biological evidence of anyone else at that crime scene besides the two victims and this man, Taylor Olson. Mike Berry spoke at a press conference after the arrest and he thanked the investigators who worked so hard on Jana's case. He thanked them for their efforts and said that him and his wife can. considered them more than just acquaintances, they were friends.

Taylor's arrest actually occurred two days after Joan and Mike celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary. They described his arrest as a very meaningful gift to them. Sadly, Joan and Michael Berry would never get to see Taylor Olson in court. Because on March 24, 2008, four months before the trial was scheduled to start, Taylor Olson was found deceased in his jail cell. It was determined to be self-inflicted. Before his death, Taylor had told investigators

there was no way he would stand trial. And in their grief, Johna's parents described Taylor as taking the coward's way out. Even after so much fighting, Mike and Joan now seem to have no chance of getting justice for their daughter. Taylor Olson left a note behind, saying that it wasn't him who stabbed Jana. In the letter, he identified the individual

he believed was respond for John A. Barry's death, expressing that he hoped that that person would be held accountable. John's father did not believe Taylor's claims. He said his blood was there, his DNA was there, he killed my daughter in a cowardly way, and he took the cowards way out.

If he wasn't really the one who murdered her, then why did he take his own life? And I pose that question to all of you, because this is a sad and complicated case. A young father with his life ahead of him is accused of killing a young woman. with such promise in life. What do you think?

In the note that he left behind, Taylor claimed it was Noah Cox that killed Jonna. When Johnna was murdered, Noah lived across the street from Brendan Park Apartments. But Noah denies playing a role in Johnna's murder.

After Taylor died, court records were published and they indicated that he was preparing a defense. And it was based on the theory that Noah Cox had killed Jonna while they were in the apartment trying to burglarize it.

But again, I'm going to repeat, there was no evidence that Noah Cox was ever at the scene of Johnna's murder, and he was never charged with any crime in connection with her death. I wanted to actually read you what Taylor's family wrote on his obituary. They said he went to be with the Lord unexpectedly in the early morning hours of March 24, 2008. And then there were specific instructions for his funeral. He requested that certain songs be played for first. him and this just really angered Mike Berry. He said that he didn't get to tell his daughter goodbye

before she died and felt like her murderer shouldn't have a say in what happens after he dies. What do you think about that? Jana Berry's family sued the apartment complex where she was murdered for failing to protect her. The Brendan Park apartment settled out of court with the family. It was a claim that the building was not secure. Additionally, her parents criticized the sheriff's because they had ignored their concerns for assistance from the Tennessee Bureau of investigation, which they had done early on in the case. I want to end with some good news. The Berry family finally received some. A Senate committee approved the John A Berry Act. This act was proposed in Tennessee to increase the odds

of finding suspects by requiring violent felons to submit DNA upon arrest rather than conviction. Joan and Mike Berry believe the state had way too few DNA samples in the database. They hope that the John a Berry Act would help other families find justice for their loved ones and make Tennessee a safer place to live. Johnna loved to help people, and this was just another way that she could do that

even in death according to her father. Eventually, the Jonah Berry Act was fully enacted, and DNA is now collected on arrest rather than just after conviction. If this act had been in place before John's murder, Taylor Olson might have been taken off the streets, long before he killed her. To carry on Jonah's legacy and honor her love for children,

her loved ones actually hold a holiday toy drive every year. And I was hoping to get this video out before December 6th. It's just a way to pay tribute to Jana who was wrapping Christmas gifts for children from low-income families on the night she was murdered. This event is still going on in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.

Everyone is invited and encouraged to bring a brand new unwrapped toy for children in need. All the donated toys are delivered to the area's children's organizations. And the toys are expected to be distributed on December 6th of this year. The donations will be collected

and given to hope for victims. Jana would have accomplished remarkable things in this world if it wasn't for her tragic death. She would have made a difference in this world, and she is. We are keeping her memory alive. The berries were grateful for the time that they had with Jana.

It was better for her to be there, for this short time than to never have had her at all. Well, that's all I have for you today. Thank you so very much for watching. I will see you in my next video. Bye.