Sandy Cartwright said someone dropped the ball and it resulted in a woman being murdered.
“This should have never happened. It could have been prevented,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright said if her former roommate, Tim Johnson, 25, had been locked up like he was supposed to have been, Judy Therianos, 52, would still be alive.
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said Johnson met Therianos at a liquor store in New Port Richey on March 13 then went across the street to a field to have sex. Investigators said they believe at some point she wanted him to stop and that's when he killed her. She died from blunt force trauma. He then continued to have sex with her body after he killed her.
Cartwright said she knew it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. She said he has a mental illness and it was getting worse. She said he had even admitted to her one day, what he wanted to do to her.
“He said, ‘I have an overwhelming feeling just to cut you up and watch you bleed slowly,’” Cartwright said.
She said she tried to turn him into authorities. She said she even gave them a recording of him talking about how he wanted to harm people.
“I went to victims' rights. I begged. I didn’t ask, I begged. I said this man’s going to harm somebody if he hasn’t already. You need to help me. They did not.” Cartwright said.
Her fears turned into reality on Jan. 17. Johnson broke into her house while she was sleeping. She woke up and saw Johnson coming toward her and her friend, Ray, with a knife. She said that fortunately Ray was able to escape and call for help.
Johnson was booked into jail and charged with two counts of aggravated assault but the Pasco County assistant state attorney said he dropped the charges because she didn't respond with a sworn statement within 30 days.
“Florida criminal procedure requires sworn statements from witnesses to formalize some types of charges, and the victims in the aggravated assault case did not respond to requests to come forward or to subpoenas requiring their testimony," said Chris LaBruzzo, Pasco County assistant state attorney, who is prosecuting Johnson in the killing of Therianos.
“We have a responsibility to file charges in cases we can prove and in cases where witnesses are cooperative,” LaBruzzo said. “We can’t hold people indefinitely.”
Cartwright said that's a lie. She said she was out of state taking care of her mother but checked in weekly.
“I offered to do a phone interview over the phone. They said, ‘No it's not that big of a deal. We'll wait until you get back,’” Cartwright said.
Johnson was released after 33 days, which turned out to be about three weeks before Therianos was killed.
Tim's twin brother, Jarrod, said he knew his brother had issues but never imagined this.
“I didn’t think they were this bad,” Johnson said.
He said they’ve been trying to get him help over the last two years.
Suzanne Snyder, family friend, said the system failed.
“We can't continue to just give them prescription pills after three or four days and turn them out. This is what happened,” Snyder said.
Snyder said Johnson had been served with a Baker Act more than 20 times in the past. She said she wants the victim’s family to know they offer their heartfelt condolences and that they are praying for them. She said she wants them to know they were trying to get him off the streets.
“Unfortunately because he didn’t have insurance and other complications, we were unable to secure him in a long-term facility,” Snyder said.
Snyder said they plan to meet with a state representative this week because they want to add an addendum to the Marchman and Baker Acts. They want to require a longer and more thorough evaluation and assessment of individuals to identify violent behaviors before releasing them. They hope to extend the evaluation period to a minimum of 28 days instead of 72 hours. They hope to name it, the “Judy Law” after the victim.
