Bond denied for man accused of killing Riverdale woman

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bond was denied Saturday for a man accused of killing a Riverdale mother of two who family members say was trying to turn her life around after involvement in prostitution.

Nehemiah Johnson Jr., 27, is accused in the strangulation death of Rochelle Alisha Thomas, whose was found dead Wednesday at a Jonesboro apartment complex. Johnson, who had been jailed earlier in the week on an unrelated charge, was charged in Thomas’ death on Friday.

Johnson, charged with murder and aggravated assault, had a first appearance before a Clayton County magistrate judge on Saturday. He declined the offer of a court-appointed attorney and told the judge he would provide his own, according to Channel 2 Action News. His next hearing is Feb. 14.

Johnson was arrested Tuesday evening on kidnapping, burglary and battery charges for an unrelated case, according to Clayton County jail records. Hours earlier, police believe he strangled Thomas to death.

“Sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday, the murder did occur in that apartment here at the Harmony Crossroads Apartment complex, and the body was disposed of in that location,” Jonesboro Police Chief Franklin Allen said.

"At some point between Wednesday and Thursday, another individual returned to that apartment who was not a primary participant of the crime, but … attempted to sanitize and destroy evidence," Allen said.

GBI agents and Jonesboro and Riverdale police officers were able to recover that evidence, Allen said, “which gives us a direct linkage between the [individuals] and the murder victim.”

Beverly Thomas, Rochelle’s mother, has been entrusted with raising her 15- and 10-year-old grandsons in her daughter’s absence.

The news of the quick arrests eased her pain, she said.

“I’m very pleased about that,” Beverly Thomas told reporters. “I don’t want to shed any more tears.”

Still, she said she was troubled by the outcome, and what it has done to her family.

“Whatever reason they chose to do this, it wasn’t necessary,” Beverly Thomas said of whoever killed her daughter.

“These two children right here deserve their mother to be home.”

Police said Thomas dropped her sons off at school Tuesday and wasn’t heard from again. Her car was found Thursday afternoon in the 700 block of Dixon Road in Jonesboro with her keys and other personal items still inside.

Thomas operated a massage service, police said.

“Mr. Johnson utilized the services of a website that would indicate masseuse or adult entertainment,” Allen said. “We believe it was a sex for hire operation.”

The motive, he said, remained somewhat unclear.

“It could have involved money, or not having money,” Allen said.

Thomas had been arrested at least twice in the past 18 months for prostitution, in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties.

In 2008 and 2009, she had arrests in Fulton, Clayton and Cobb counties related to drug possession, forgery and lying to police.

But those who knew her said she was trying to turn her life around.

The most recent arrest, in DeKalb County on Nov. 10, 2010, led her to a prostitution diversion program, her attorney, Albert Mitchell, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Mitchell said Rochelle Thomas was estranged from her sons for nearly five years. Her mother had the boys until she could quit the sex trade.

“For her to get those boys back, she had to demonstrate to her mother that she was walking the straight and narrow,” he said. “She wanted to be a better mother.”

The DeKalb program, called RAHAB and sponsored by the county’s Solicitor-General’s office, helped her find an exit, Mitchell said.

“She got her kids back,” he said.

Beverly Thomas said the family struggled through her daughter’s experience working in the sex trade, but they tried to keep a positive outlook.

“We have for the past three years been celebrating all of the positive things,” she said.

And despite what her daughter did, Beverly Thomas encouraged her.

“I told her, no matter what you do in your life, hold your head up and smile,” she said.

While Beverly Mitchell reveled Friday in the work police and the GBI did to arrest and charge someone in her daughter’s death, she couldn’t help but lament losing a daughter she seemed to have just regained from the world of prostitution.

“We had a wonderful Christmas with her,” Beverly Thomas said. “She made Christmas special for the family, and 25 days later, she’s gone.”

Allen said police will continue to work through the weekend to gather more information on the people believed to have cleaned up the crime scene.