Neighbor led police to suspect in Beach couple's deaths

Berry Richard Johnson was spotted driving slowly around Aragona Village on Saturday in his stepfather's Chevy, which had been missing since the killings.

"Like a Sunday stroll," said Jimmy Wynn, a 24-year-old neighbor who first spotted the car the police were seeking. "It was like he was circling around the house."

Wynn, who recognized the license plate number from a television broadcast, called 911.

"I asked them if they were still looking for that car, and they said, 'Yeah,' and I said, 'I'm right behind it now.' "

He followed Johnson, reporting his every turn to a dispatcher, praying for police to show up before he was noticed. Johnson slowly cruised a Food Lion parking lot and then went back into the neighborhood.

Suddenly, Wynn saw cop cars, five, maybe six.

They stopped Johnson, drew guns and pulled him from the car, Wynn said.

Johnson, a 49-year-old house painter, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his wheelchair-bound mother, Barbara Lee, 71, and her husband, Robert Lee, 63, a technical writer with a defense contractor.

Preliminary autopsies released Monday showed the couple was beaten to death with a blunt object, police said. Johnson lived with his parents.

Johnson's sister, Strothleen Anderson, discovered her parents' bodies on Friday. She and her husband, Terry, had been trying to call them all day and decided to stop by the modest brick ranch house when no one answered their home or cell phones.

When they got to the house, they noticed that the couple's car was gone.

"We thought maybe they went to the store or the doctor," Terry Anderson said.

When Strothleen got to the front door, she saw a red substance that she thought might be paint, since her brother was a house painter, Terry Anderson said. When his wife screamed, he got out of his truck and ran inside, where he saw the bodies.

He said he didn't know what to make of the charges against his brother-in-law.

In 1995, Johnson pleaded guilty to possessing and dealing cocaine, both felonies.

"He just had a history," Terry Anderson said.

After his arrest, Johnson was taken to a hospital because of a "medical situation" not related to his capture, police said.

Wynn said Johnson had blood on his wrists when he was arrested. On Monday, Johnson was transferred to the city jail. His wrists were wrapped in gauze when he arrived, said Paula Miller, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office

Police wouldn't say what caused the injury.

Family and neighbors on Monday remembered the Lees as a loving couple married for almost 30 years.

Robert Lee worked in Hampton for Amsec LLC, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, writing manuals for aircraft carrier operations.

He had just been transferred to the company's Virginia Beach office and was looking forward to being closer to his ill wife, on whom he doted, Terry Anderson said.

"Things were really working out. He probably would've retired soon," he added.

Barbara Lee's health had spiraled downward after she hurt her hip in a fall seven or eight years ago, Terry Anderson said. Later, she fell again and broke a leg and was confined to a wheelchair and bed.

Next-door neighbor Freddie Dela Cruz recalled the Lees fondly. Before Mrs. Lee became immobile, he would drive her to the bank. She would insist on giving him $5 despite his protests. He said he had hired Johnson several times to paint his house. The last time, Dela Cruz said, he was disappointed with his work and confronted Johnson.

"I told him I didn't like his job," he said. "He got mad. I didn't want to argue, so I just paid him."

Wynn, who spotted Johnson, said he was rattled while following the murder suspect.

"I was just thinking, 'I hope he doesn't see me back here on the phone taking every turn he takes.' It was scary. I couldn't tell my mom afterwards. I couldn't even dial the number on the phone, my fingers were shaking so bad."

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com