Army veteran arrested for decapitating his mother with his teeth

A Mississippi Army veteran reportedly killed his mother, cut off her head with a butter knife and his own teeth after they got into an argument over credit cards.

Terrelle Johnson confessed to the brutal killing of his mother on the June 7, one day after her decapitated body was discovered in the backyard of their family home.

The Stone County Sheriff’s Office had been called to the home a number of times prior to the murder of 51-year-old school guidance counselor, Sherry Johnson, and were performing a “welfare check” at the request of her siblings, who had not heard from her for several days.

According to the Miami Herald, Terrelle Johnson told deputies that she had gone on a cruise, but the lawmen did not believe him and notified Sheriff’s Captain Ray Boggs.

When Boggs arrived at the home, Johnson was sitting on the front porch, insisting his mother was fine. Upon inspection of the house, however, the deputies made a grisly discovery.

“When I entered the bedroom,” Boggs recounted in a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, “I immediately noticed blood everywhere.”

Heading out back, Boggs and his deputies found the decapitated body of Johnson’s mother, her head around fifteen feet from where the rest of her lay.

Arresting Johnson on the spot, the SCSO immediately began an investigation.

It wasn’t long until Johnson confessed to killing his mother following an argument over credit cards.  Johnson reportedly tried to walk away but was eventually provoked to the point of violence.

“He told me that he beat her up real bad,” Boggs testified. “He said it got out of hand.”

Choking his mother until she stopped breathing, Johnson claims he used a butter knife as well as his hands and teeth to remove her head, eventually taking the body out back to keep the house from smelling bad.

Captain Boggs said that Johnson has had multiple mental health episodes, to the point where the Department of Veterans Affairs had expelled Johnson after a previous arrest.

Johnson’s attorney, Jim Davis, plans on obtaining as many hospital records as possible in an effort to see whether or not an insanity plea would be feasible.

“I’ve handled numerous insanity cases,” Davis said, indicating that he had won one or two. “Trust me, jurors don’t like them, so you better have a very strong one.”

A look into Johnson’s history showed that he had served in the US Army as a young man, eventually getting out and attending community college. After that, he held several temporary labor jobs, but had difficulties maintaining steady employment. Photos obtained from social media indicate that he was previously assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Johnson’s father, Rev. Rob Harris, is a Baptist Minister who previously headed the maintenance department for Stone County. He and Johnson’s mother reportedly had their son at a young age and had never married.

Johnson was instructed by his attorney to remain quiet while passing media on the way on the way into court. He reportedly failed to heed his Davis’ advice, giving news crews a chilling one-liner they will likely never forget.

“I done it,” he said.

Johnson is currently facing a first-degree murder charge.