RPD arrests woman, 29, charged in Weed man’s 2012 murder

January 22, 2020 Trevor Montgomery

REDDING –A Weed woman with ties to Redding and Shasta County was arrested last Saturday evening, Jan. 18, on a years-old murder warrant, SCNS learned last week. The warrant stemmed from the March, 2012 robbery and beating death of 83-year-old, Henry Mariani, of Weed.

Another suspect in Mariani’s 2012 murder, Darryl James Lawrence – who was 38 at the time of the deadly incident, is already serving a 25-year sentence in state prison after previously pleading guilty to the elderly victim’s death. Superior Court records indicate Lawrence already had an extensive criminal history at the time of Mariani’s murder and was out of jail pending other numerous charges when he committed the early morning murder.

According to officials the woman arrested last week, Chellsie Sharee Johnson, 29, of Weed, has already been transported back to Siskiyou County, where she was booked into jail earlier today and is now awaiting arraignment for her alleged involvement in Mariani’s murder. She would have been 21 at the time.

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After Mariani’s murder, the Siskiyou County District Attorney’s Office reported that Lawrence and an accomplice, now believed to be Johnson, had gone to the victim’s Weed residence March 12, 2012, with the intention of burglarizing the man’s home.

As Johnson allegedly sat outside the residence acting as a lookout during the early-morning burglary, Lawrence broke into the victim’s home to steal bank cards and other valuables.

While Lawrence was ransacking Mariani’s residence, the victim reportedly woke up and confronted the burglar, leading to a violent and deadly encounter that ended with the octogenarian’s death.

Siskiyou Daily News reported in 2015 that after waking the elderly victim while burglarizing the man’s residence, “Lawrence proceeded to throw Mariania against a nightstand and strike him with his knee.”

“The attack left Mariani with eight broken ribs, some of which punctured his lung and liver,” the SDN report continued.

After the deadly attack, Lawrence fled with Mariani’s bank cards, a small amount of money, and other items, Siskiyou County District Attorney’s Office previously reported.

Mariani’s cause of death was later determined to be blunt force trauma.

During their subsequent investigation, Weed PD officials developed leads and gathered information and evidence; including surveillance footage that showed Lawrence attempting to use Mariani’s stolen bank cards at two separate ATM’s.

Although he failed to obtain cash using the victim’s ATM cards, Lawrence was able to use the stolen cards to purchase $150 worth of video games through his X-Box Live account, according to Siskiyou County District Attorney officials.

In 2016, Weed PD and the Siskiyou County District Attorney’s Office issued a warrant for Johnson’s arrest for her alleged participation in the 2012 incident, City of Weed Police Sgt. Klomparens told SCNS today in a telephone interview about her arrest.

Redding police officers arrested 29-year-old, Chellsie Sharee Johnson shortly before midnight last Saturday after the woman called 911 to report a child custody dispute. Chellsie Johnson Facebook image

Contacted for additional details regarding her arrest last week, a Redding PD spokesperson told SCNS Johnson was arrested at an apartment complex on the 3000 block of Lawrence Rd., after she called 911 last Thursday to report a child custody dispute involving her 15-month-old son and the child’s father.

Documentation and a patrol incident log provided to SCNS in response to questions forwarded to the agency indicated that while investigating Johnson’s call and complaint, officers determined the woman had a years-old murder warrant out of Siskiyou County.

Based on the outstanding warrant as well as a violation of probation charge, officers arrested Johnson. She was then transported to Shasta County Jail in Redding, where she was booked on her charges and held on $500,000 bail until she was transported back to Siskiyou County earlier today.

This is a developing story that will be updated as new information becomes available.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 48, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 29 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 16 grandchildren.