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FDL Reporter
August 10, 2014
Criminal charges have been filed in La Crosse County against a man accused of killing a cab driver and leading police on a high-speed chase.
Prosecutors say Timmy Johnson Jr. admitted killing 79-year-old Merle Forbes in June after calling him for a ride in Platteville. Johnson is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, kidnapping and armed robbery. He’s accused of stabbing Forbes and putting him in the trunk of the taxi.
The La Crosse Tribune reports a criminal complaint says Johnson could hear the dying man moaning in the trunk as he headed for La Crosse. Police say Johnson was high on PCP when he led police on a high speed chase through La Crosse county. Authorities say speeds reached 115 mph before Johnson hit an SUV in Holmen and was arrested.
The case unfolded after Johnson was released from the Grant County Jail about 6 a.m. June 12 after serving time for car theft. He stole a paring knife and a bottle of whiskey before he ran into someone with PCP, according to the complaint.
Paranoid and depressed, he called a cab from near the University of Platteville for a ride to a secluded spot to kill himself. It’s unclear from court records whether Johnson recognized him, but the man behind the wheel was Forbes, a longtime taxi driver from Platteville, Wis., who was stiffed by Johnson on a $90 fare months earlier, according to the complaint.
The cab stopped on a dead end road in Platteville. Johnson pulled Forbes into the back seat of the 1994 Ford Taurus and struck him, the complaint states.
Johnson climbed into the driver’s seat and became agitated when Forbes kicked the seat. Johnson ordered him from the cab and, fearing Forbes planned to hurt him, stabbed him multiple times in the head and chest, according to the complaint.
He put him first in the backseat and considered taking Forbes to a hospital but instead loaded him into the trunk as the elderly man moaned and asked for help.
Johnson drove toward Boscobel, Wis., stopping for pizza and water he paid for with the victim’s cash. He could hear Forbes groaning as the cab continued toward La Crosse and stopped three times to give the dying man fresh air.
Hours later, a La Crosse officer checked the cab’s registration as the car passed Seventh and La Crosse streets at 1:09 a.m. June 13. The officer found Forbes was reported missing and endangered by his family about six hours earlier when he failed to return home after picking up a fare in Platteville.
Johnson fled the officer from Second and La Crosse streets through La Crosse and Onalaska at speeds that reached 115 mph, the complaint states. He later told investigators he planned to commit suicide by crashing the stolen cab into a building and that he forgot Forbes was in the trunk.
Johnson made it to Holmen before he hit a SUV, leaving three with minor injuries. The taxi rolled and came to rest on the shoulder of Hwy. 35, where the trunk popped open. Forbes was inside, bloody and beaten.
“I killed the person in the trunk,” Johnson told investigators while hospitalized. “I killed him.”
