A Davenport man found Johnson’s body wrapped in a bloodstained blanket in the back seat of a car in an apartment parking lot. A black garbage bag was around his head.
Detectives immediately focused on McCoy’s younger brother, Lawrence McCoy, after finding blood prints in the apartment he shared with Johnson’s sister.
Police pulled over a car they thought Lawrence McCoy was driving and pulled their guns, but it was Darryl McCoy who was driving the car.
He was put in the back of a patrol car and taken to the police station for questioning. It was during that videotaped interview that he admitted he was present during the slaying and helped clean up the apartment and dispose of Johnson’s body.
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Darryl McCoy was illegally detained because the police had no probable cause to suspect him in the slaying. Therefore, his incriminating statements should be thrown out, the court ruled.