Coverage: Texas man charged with six counts of murder | Warrant: Texas murder suspect was drinking with Johnson family | 2 former Farmington residents among 6 killed in Texas
FARMINGTON — People in the area were in shock and mourning Tuesday after learning that two former residents, Carl Johnson and his daughter, Hannah Johnson, and four other people — including Hannah’s son — were killed Saturday night in East Texas.
Carl and his wife, Cynthia Johnson, the lone survivor of the carnage, were both highly regarded in the Franklin County community, as was their daughter, Hannah. The older Johnsons had retired from the University of Maine at Farmington before moving to Texas. Hannah Johnson was a 1993 graduate of Mt. Blue High School in Farmington and had graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maine in Orono.
“It certainly is a devastating tragedy — very shocking and sad,” Farmington Town Manager Richard Davis said Tuesday. Davis said he did not know Carl and Cynthia Johnson but knew Carl’s son, Erik Johnson, the manager of Sandy River Farm Market in Farmington, from the times he appeared before the Planning Board.
“Carl and Cindy retired from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1999 to pursue their passion for traveling the country,” Laurie Gardner, UMF chief business officer, said in a statement. “They were valued members of the university community and we are deeply saddened by this senseless tragedy and our hearts go out to the family.”
Current Regional School Unit 9 Superintendent Tom Ward was the principal of Mt. Blue High School when Hannah Johnson attended.
“Hannah was a very nice young lady, highly thought of by her friends and staff,” Ward said. “Her parents were highly regarded by the university and community,” Ward said.
The bodies of Carl and Hannah were found in a camper trailer on property Hannah and boyfriend, Thomas Kamp, both of Midleigh, Texas, who was also killed, had recently purchased in Anderson County, Texas. The property is about 100 miles from their primary residence, according to family members.
The victims’ names were not being released by Texas police as of Tuesday. The surviving victim was injured and hid in the woods until she was able to make it to a main road and call 911 early Sunday morning, Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor told the Palestine Herald-Press in Texas. The call came in at about 7 a.m.
The bodies of Hannah Johnson’s son, Kade, 6, Kamp, and Kamp’s two older children were found in a pond on neighboring property from the campsite, family members said.
William Hudson, 33, of Tennessee Colony was charged with one count of murder as of Tuesday morning and is being held on a $2.5 million bond.
The woman who made the call to police told Taylor that Hudson came over to the Johnsons’ trailer Saturday afternoon to help free a vehicle stuck in the mud, and stayed around to socialize afterward, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. No other details have been released in the case.
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Timeline
Anderson County Sheriff’s Office in Texas timeline and initial release on Texas murders involving some former Farmington residents:
7:02 a.m. – Sheriff’s Office dispatched to 800 block of County Road 2217 in reference to this possible shooting.
7:19 a.m. – Deputies arrived and discovered the crime scene, two deceased, one male, one female in a travel trailer.
Investigation began involving ACSO, Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, Texas Rangers and also assistance from Palestine Police Department detectives.
“We were investigating the deaths of two individuals and looking for four more people that had been at the campsite and were unaccounted for.”
“We developed a suspect and were able to take William Hudson, 33, into custody without incident, later in the day on Nov. 15, (Sunday) at a residence on CR 2217.
Hudson for the moment is charged with one count of murder and bond is set at $2.5 million.
On (Monday,) Nov. 16 at approximately 1:15 p.m. the bodies of four persons were removed from a pond behind Hudson’s residence.
Names and ages of the deceased will be released at a later date. The investigation continues.
Source: Anderson County Sheriff’s Office
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