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Warning, this episode contains graphic details of murder and is not suitable for young listeners.

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Welcome back to Crime Army. I am your host Margo and this is a True Crime podcast where I focus on crimes committed by military members and veterans.

But don't worry, you don't have to know anything about the military to listen. I promise. You just have to be a true crime enthusiast. And if that's you, welcome home.

Buckle up True Crime Army because today I am going to tell you the most terrifying story I think I have ever heard.

It's the story of Levina Johnson. As a military woman who deployed to Afghanistan back in 2012, take it from me. I am so glad I didn't know about Levina Johnson's case before I deployed because it may have caused me to go AWOL quite frankly before deploying.

But no, I hope my boss isn't listening.

This week's case is military murder's most requested case in the last month or so. It's been requested in months past but in the last couple of weeks I've received a lot of requests for this particular case.

And because it's been requested so many times, I lost track of who asked for it so just thank you to everyone who recommended it.

A few weeks back, I brought you the story of Camisha Block, a soldier deployed to Iraq whose death was originally reported as a friendly fire incident and later discovered to be a murder suicide.

Well today's case is about private first class Levina Lynn Johnson. She deployed to Balaad Iraq in 2005. And although she had all these plans for the future including decorating a Christmas tree with her parents and going to college quite frankly,

when she was found dead on July 17th, 2005, her death was ruled a suicide. Join me today as I tell you the story of private first class Levina Johnson and her family's quest for the truth.

Now let's dig in.

My sources for today include a 2014 Midtown Film Documentary titled The Silent Truth, a date line SPS Australia episode titled Dark Secrets.

A rock newman show episode available on YouTube where rock actually gets to interview both Levina's dad and an attorney by the name of Donald Watkins, some writings by that same attorney,

an MPR interview with Dr. Johnson, Levina Johnson's father, an article by the St. Louis American, the Huffington Post, democracy now, and I did visit Levina Johnson's Wikipedia page.

I want everyone to know that there is a lot of information out there. So I tried to take information from legitimate sources and only really those endorsed by the Johnson family where they have an interview with the Johnson's etc.

I would be remiss if I didn't say that I first learned about Levina Johnson's case from an episode of the ever popular crime junkie podcast in an episode properly titled Women in the Military.

Levina Johnson was born on July 27th, 1985 in Missouri. Levina was the second youngest of five kids born to Dr. John Johnson and Linda Johnson.

Even with that handful of kids, Levina Johnson had a special place in her parents' heart. She was the first little girl born to the Johnson's after they had three little boys.

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