freeway phantom

The second victim of the Freeway Phantom was Darlenia Denise Johnson from Congress Heights. On 8 July 1971, Darlene, 16, was walking to her summer job at the Oxon Hill Recreation Center when the Freeway Phantom abducted her. 

One witness reported seeing Johnson in an old black car driven by an African-American man. Unfortunately, the lead went nowhere.

Her body was found on the I-295 eleven days later. She was lying only 15 feet (4.6 meters) from where police recovered Spinks’ body two and a half months earlier. 

Two people reported seeing the body on 12 July 1971. The first caller did not give his name, but the second was a DC employee who stopped on I-295 because of car trouble. A police car dispatched to investigate the sightings found nothing.

A week later, the highways employee returned to the site and was dismayed to discover the body still there. He contacted his boss, who reported the matter to a friend, an off-duty police sergeant, who recovered Darlenia’s body. 

Many believe the anonymous caller who reported the body was Daelenia’s killer. 

After eleven days in the summer heat, Johnson’s body was far too decomposed to determine the cause of death or if she had been sexually assaulted, but law enforcement did find evidence of strangulation. Like Carol, Darlenia was fully clothed, but her shoes were missing.