Chapter 7: Made Up

Heads up. This episode contains strong language.

Last time on Beyond All Repair

Judge: We the jury, find the defendant Sophia S. Johnson guilty.

Sophia Johnson: Being pregnant with him while incarcerated truly saved my life. 

Danielle (ACTOR): No sentence would be strong enough for Sophia.

Sophia Johnson: I picked up the phone and Therese was excited. And I said, I won, didn't I? She said, you won.

Kay Sweeny: A person her height couldn't have done that. It doesn't mean she wasn't involved, I mean.

Amory Sivertson: So I'm using this opportunity to just confess that I’m a little nervous.

It’s autumn, 2021. I’m nervously… FRANTICALLY…recording a voice memo while I set up my actual audio equipment in the driveway of the person I'm about to talk to.

Amory Sivertson: There are very different narratives about her.

Very different narratives about the woman I'd been talking to for 6 months at this point. Always on VIDEO calls. I knew her side of the story well. But I'd heard and read many OTHER perspectives. People who call her a manipulator, a mastermind, a murderer.

Amory Sivertson: I hope that… that I'm not doing something stupid right now.

This was the day I'd meet Sophia Johnson... IN PERSON… for the first time.

Amory Sivertson:  All right. Here we go.

Hi. Hi.

Sophia greets me at the door of a nondescript, new construction in a cul-de-sac of two-story, stucco houses that more-or-less look the same.

She's petite. Her full face of make-up says she's ready for anything; her loungewear and loose ponytail say we're staying in and watching a movie. We're not. We have a LOT to talk about. The three of us.

Morgen: You know what dawned on us the other day? 

This is Morgen, Sophia's partner.

Morgen: I said to her, do you think she'll be afraid to come here? And she goes, well, why would she be afraid? And I said, I don't know. You were accused. You were convicted, you were– I mean, this person's coming over and we could be killing her and chopping her up… because how do you know?

Here I am… in Sophia and Morgen’s home… FAR away from my own… by myself. And you HEARD how nervous I was before going in, but… I don’t think I would have let myself get out of the car if I thought Sophia bludgeoned someone to death. And also,

Sophia told me WHERE she is, making me 1 of... TWO people, including Morgen, who know that information. Or KNEW that information. I don't know where Sophia is anymore. That's on purpose. These two are in hiding. Today, you'll learn why.

I'm Amory Sivertson. From WBUR and ZSP Media, this is Beyond All Repair.

Chapter 7: Made Up.

Sophia Johnson: If you wanna change your appearance: brows, lashes, lips. 

I'm a few days into my trip now, and Sophia and I are both feeling comfortable enough that I've asked her for a favor. I'm sitting next to her, and she's sitting in front of a desk devoted entirely to make-up. There's an assortment of plastic storage containers holding brushes of all sizes, colorful tubes and sticks and jars of creams and serums and glosses.

Sophia Johnson: Alright. Are we ready for my transformation? 

Amory Sivertson: I'm ready. I think I'm gonna learn a lot today.  

I'm talking about make-up here... but I was hoping to learn about a lot more than "brows, lashes, lips." Meeting Sophia IRL was an attempt to understand the whole person. And while learning more about Sophia's appearance might sound, well... surface level, it was important to me. Because the made-up Sophia who had been showing up to video calls for months... really didn't look ANYTHING like the woman convicted of murder that I'd seen in newspaper articles from 20 years ago. And that's not an exaggeration. There were times I wondered if I was talking to a completely different person.

Sophia Johnson: If I wanna look more Asian then I could do an Asian look. If I wanna look more Middle Eastern, I could do a Middle Eastern look.

So I asked Sophia if she'd be willing to show me how she transforms herself. And WHY.

Sophia Johnson: I have always had a love for makeup. And that is because I feel so ugly and so small without it. I have a lot of blemishes on my face. I grew up with really bad acne. When I was in jail, it got worse.

I watch as Sophia reaches for products with the consideration of a painter reaching for different hues to blend and blot and conjure up something you understand much more having seen the many careful steps it took to construct.

Sophia Johnson: You know, the green hides any sort of red blemishes, the yellow brightens. And this brick color hides the darkness.

Sophia's make-up hides the darkness. It covers actual blemishes and scars, and ones beneath the facade that she's collected as a person convicted of the murder of someone close to her, who lost her husband and only child in the process. The made-up Sophia... doesn't let any of that show.

Sophia Johnson: Because that person that looks like that doesn't have any problems. And I feel like I'm hiding. So it makes me feel safe. I'm not scared Sophia at home with no makeup. I am this person that nobody knows, that they think might be confident, that they think might be nice. 

I keep my eyes on the Sophia in the mirror across from us as, layer by layer, she transforms from the 23 year old woman from the newspapers into the 43 year-old Sophia from my video calls...

Sophia Johnson: Hold on, I'm gonna put my lips on now.

…hoping that this exercise will help me hold both Sophias in my head  — the woman who’s cried countless tears in front of me over the son she hasn’t seen since he was born…

Sophia Johnson: All right, I'm putting on mascara now. No more tears.

…who’s texted me after some difficult conversations to see how I’m doing, who shows the same tenderness and care towards Morgen on our calls that Shane says SAVED him growing up.

Sophia Johnson: Eyeliner next. 

And… the woman convicted of the brutal murder of her mother-in-law.

Sophia Johnson: It's just mask and I'm just somebody else. I'm, I'm not me. 

The Sophia from the newspapers and the woman sitting next to me here… ARE the same person. But who is the REAL Sophia?

Morgen: Boy, this is really harder than I thought it would be. This morning, there was like a, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing?’ You know? Moment. 

The person who knows Sophia the best — the whole Sophia — is her partner-in-hiding, Morgen. This is him talking to me on a video call back in May of 2021, on the eve of an anniversary.

Morgen: Tomorrow will be the first day that I meet Sophia. It would be 16 years ago, and I cannot believe it was 16 years ago.

16 years prior, in May of 2005, Sophia was in Clark County Jail awaiting her second murder trial, when she met Morgen through someone named Tina.

Morgen: Okay. So I'm new to jail. I don't know this whole, they have a whole different language I've never heard before. 

THAT was Tina. If you're like, "Wait, no, I thought that was MORGEN"... you are correct. But when Sophia tells this part of her story, she tells it as it happened back then. And I should say, Morgen doesn't consider Tina a "dead name." But let's focus on the story of how the two of them became close.

It started... with an argument.

Tina's cellmate had gotten SOPHIA in trouble. Or so she thought. So Sophia went to this woman's cell to confront her and said…

Sophia Johnson: You involved me in this garbage last night and got me taken outta here and I need to know why.

Tina had been in jail for only about a week at this point. She didn't know Sophia, and she didn't appreciate her arguing with her cellmate while SHE was trying to sleep.

Sophia Johnson: And before I can finish the words outta my mouth… 

Morgen: I can't remember what she first said, but it was something that made me get out of the bed 

Sophia Johnson: This person on the bottom bunk flew to the door 

Morgen: And go over to say you're wrong. 

Sophia Johnson: And was like almost yelling at me. ‘She didn't say anything. You don't know what you're talking about.’

Morgen: I mean I was probably pretty intense about it cause it irritated me right away, ‘cause what the hell?

So Sophia's like, "Who IS this new girl?"

Sophia Johnson: I was talking to Tina. I said, do you know who I am? 

Morgen: She said, ‘Do you know who I am?’ or something stupid. And I thought, what the hell do I, no, 

Sophia Johnson: She said, no. Who are you? And I kind of laughed because I knew she took it the wrong way. I didn't mean I was someone special,  all I was saying is, do you understand why they would be trying to have your roommate stack things up against me? It's because of my charges. 

Morgen: And she said, my name is Sophia Johnson. I'm being tried for killing my mother-in-law or something like that. 

Sophia Johnson: And she said, did you do it? 

Morgen: And I said, did you do it? And she said…

Sophia Johnson: And I said no.  

Morgen: No. 

Sophia Johnson: She's like, ‘Oh, because I like my mother.’ And I'm like, okaaaaay. You know, it's just kind of, I mean, what do you say to that? It was so blatant and so funny all at the same time.

Morgen: It was a whole weird experience, you know, where it was like, who is that? 

Sophia respected the way Tina looked out for her roommate that day. And SHE... started looking out for Tina, who didn't appear to be eating much or adjusting well to jail. The two became friends. And soon, cellmates. Sophia told Tina about her first trial, and her UPCOMING one. She was debating whether or not to testify in her own defense. Her lawyer, Therese, DIDN'T want her to. And Sophia, having already gotten a taste of what prison was like, was feeling pretty resigned to that life. Tina didn’t get it.

Morgen: She came back a few times and said my attorney said no. I said tell your attorney, YES. You should have a say.

Sophia Johnson: She'd say, I don't understand why you just can't go and tell the truth. I have a feeling this is gonna be your only shot. You're not gonna get this again. So why don't you just do what you know you will not regret. And it started lighting a fire in my heart where I thought, well, maybe I do wanna go home. Maybe I could get out and meet Eathen. 

Eathen, her son…. who was already three years old, but none the wiser to the fact that his biological mom was behind bars. But MAYBE… not for much longer.

Sophia Johnson: All of a sudden maybe was a very relevant word in my life where it hadn't been for years at that point. I started becoming hopeful.

Near the end of her second trial, Sophia took Tina’s advice... and... the stand.

Judge: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

Sophia Johnson: Yes. 

Judge: Please be seated.

Tina wasn’t in the courtroom that day. While Sophia was testifying… she was sitting in their cell, waiting to hear how it went. But a couple months before we met in person, MORGEN now -- was watching the footage of Sophia on the stand… for the FIRST TIME.

Morgen: I was sitting in that chair. She was sitting on this couch, and I had the laptop on my lap and headphones on because she can't see it.

And at a certain point, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Morgen: I took off the headphones and said, ‘did you lie when you testified?’ And she said ‘yes.’ And I immediately headed upstairs and called you. What the hell? 

What the hell... in a minute.

I got the call from Morgen while I was driving. As in, I wasn't recording. He’d JUST watched Sophia’s testimony for the first time, and he... was spiraling. I could barely understand what he was saying. I hadn't seen any of the footage of the second trial at this point. Sophia and Morgen had only just gotten it themselves from a relative.

Sophia had told me she'd testified, but not what she’d specifically said on the stand. I assumed it was what she’d told ME about the day of the murder. Morgen — the person who'd encouraged Sophia to testify in the first place — he did, too.

Morgen: Just tell the truth, basically. 

A bit of a refresher: what Sophia told detectives, and what she's told Morgen, and what she's told ME… is that she had NOTHING to do with Marlyne Johnson's murder. That she didn’t go to her mother-in-law’s house that day UNTIL she and her husband Brad went over to check on his mom, and found her dead. Sophia's testimony in this second trial... told a different story. Starting with the night before Marlyne's murder.

Sophia had told me about a heated fight her in-laws got into over her father-in-law, Richard's, drinking and gambling. She and Brad got out of there quickly, she said, and drove back to their own house. But this is where Sophia’s story on the stand... started to stray from her original one. Here's Therese, Sophia's lawyer, asking her about what happened on the way back from her in-laws’ house.

Therese Lavallee: What did Brad say to you, if anything, on the ride home?

Sophia Johnson: That he hated this. That it keeps happening. And he wants to protect his mom. And that Richard was taking everything that she had. He wanted some help to scare her. So he asked me if my brother would be, if I would be willing to call my brother. 

Therese Lavallee: Alright. So your husband tells you that he wants help in scaring Marlyne?

Sophia Johnson: Yes. 

Therese Lavallee: Did he tell you what he meant by that? 

Sophia Johnson: He said just horribly scaring her, letting her know that Richard had outstanding gambling debts so it would be enough to persuade her to finally leave him. 

Therese Lavallee: Did you wonder why Brad would want your brother to be involved in this? Oh, I knew why, because Sean was... he'd been in trouble before and he probably wouldn't have been adverse to doing... to scaring Marlyne.

Ok... so according to Sophia on the stand... Brad was devising a plan to SCARE his mom into leaving his dad... with the help of Sophia's brother, Sean. Sophia says she calls Sean that night, as Brad asks her to, and passes the phone off to Brad, who talks to Sean privately about what would infamously become known in this second trial as... "the plan."

The morning of the murder, Sophia says, Sean and his girlfriend, Susie, DID come over to work on his divorce paperwork, as she originally told me. But THEN, in this new version of events — the PLAN — Susie drove Sophia and Sean over to the Johnsons house with the vaaaague knowledge that Sean had some sort of "job" to do there. Susie left, Brad met them at his parents' house, and Sean and Brad stayed down in the basement, talking, while Sophia went upstairs to Marlyne's room.

Sophia Johnson: And then I just got really nervous and I got up and started pacing in front of the television and to the bathroom area.

Therese Lavallee: Now you keep saying you were nervous. What was your understanding of what was to happen? 

Sophia Johnson: That Sean was supposed to scare Marlyne and tell her that Richard had outstanding gambling debts and that they know where she lives. Basically, he better pay up. 

Therese Lavallee: Was it your understanding that he was going to do any harm to her?

Sophia Johnson: Never. 

A little bit later, Sophia says Brad came up the stairs and told her it was time to go.

Therese Lavallee: How was Brad acting? 

Sophia Johnson: Rushed. 

Therese Lavallee: Were you asking additional questions? 

Sophia Johnson: No. 

Therese Lavallee: Didn't you have a conversation about what was going on with Sean? 

Sophia Johnson: I asked him where Sean was and he said he had other plans. That was it. 

Therese Lavallee: So was it your expectation you'd be seeing Marlyne that day? 

Sophia Johnson: Of course.

Of course, Sophia says. She would be coming over for lunch that afternoon. Just like Sophia’s told me. So Marlyne not showing up? Finding her dead in her basement? All of THAT… was still a horrific surprise, she says on the stand. But Sophia had already committed to this bit. The plan. And now, she had some explaining to do around what she told detectives the night of the murder. 

Therese Lavallee: Isn't it true you told the detectives lies that night? 

Sophia Johnson: Yes. 

Therese Lavallee: Why did you lie to them? 

Sophia Johnson: I was in shock. I was scared. Brad was there and he didn't fess up any information. 

Therese Lavallee: Well who cares what Brad's saying? Why didn't you tell the police what had happened? 

Sophia Johnson: I mean, this is my husband. And then this is my brother. I didn't even know what happened. What was I to say? 

Therese Lavallee: So you lied? 

Sophia Johnson: Yes.

This... may as well be the DEFINITION... of a mindfuck. On the stand, Sophia is admitting to lying. Today, Sophia would say she was lying on the stand about lying. And I’m over here like, could she be lying about lying about lying?

Morgen was also caught in a “which story is made up?!” headspin.

Morgen: What the hell?

He confronted Sophia, right then and there.

Morgen: And she looked up and her just, she just kinda, her shoulder shrunk and she just looked small. I don't know how to describe it.

Remember, Morgen was the one who’d encouraged Sophia to testify, to tell her truth on the stand… and NOW he was left wondering if Sophia has been lying to HIM all along.

Morgen: I would never be okay with that. And knowing her and loving her, to hear that, on this long forever road of a mess.

Sophia Johnson: I don’t understand why you can’t just tell the truth. 

Morgen: I don't know, I feel like I got punched in the face.

I had a strong reaction watching Sophia’s testimony the first time, too.

All through her first trial, she’d sat in the courtroom listening to people accuse her of terrible things, hearing her own brother paint her as a greedy, devious, murderous monster. This was Sophia’s chance to be HEARD — in her second-chance of a trial! And here she was… using this unlikely opportunity… to tell a totally. different. story. And THAT story: THE PLAN… Sean scaring Marlyne? It’s STUPID. The whole thing just feels… STUPID.

Rick Buckner: Totally preposterous. 

A: Detective Rick Buckner knew it.

Rick Buckner: You know, if they want Marlyne to leave Richard Johnson, all they've gotta do is convince her of it, they don't have to threaten her!

A: The prosecutor, Mike Kinnie, knew it. And in his cross-examination of Sophia, he would try to make sure the JURY knew it, too.

Mike Kinnie: So, was the idea that your mother-in-law was to know that it was your brother who was making these threats to her, or a stranger?

Sophia Johnson: I believe it was to be a stranger. 

Mike Kinnie: Okay, well the problem is though, that a week earlier, on the 3rd, Marlyne Johnson had been over at your house looking at wedding videos. And Sean Correia was there along with Susie Parker. 

This is true. Sophia's told me that she had JUST gotten back in touch with Sean after months of estrangement, and she'd asked Marlyne to be there when Sean came over because she wasn't comfortable being in her house alone with him.

Mike Kinnie: So does it make a whole lot of sense then that she wouldn't identify your brother?

Sophia Johnson: That she wouldn't identify my brother? No, that doesn't make sense. 

Mike Kinnie: It doesn't, does it? 

Sophia Johnson: No. 

Mike Kinnie: Okay. 

Sophia Johnson: But… Brad did have ski masks and gloves that he'd taken out of the office closet. And he was bringing them to give to Sean, I suppose. 

Mike Kinnie: Oh you suppose! You hadn't mentioned that before. When, when, when did you get this information?

Sophia becomes increasingly frazzled and emotional on the stand as the prosecutor pokes at the details of what she'd laid out. Why did she go along with a plan to scare her mother-in-law — the woman who was her closest friend at this point? Why didn't she call her brother Sean when Marlyne didn't show up for lunch to find out what had gone down at the house? And did she not say anything to the detectives about a plan-gone-VERY-wrong  because she didn't want to get her husband and brother in trouble?

Mike Kinnie: You didn't want the police to know anything about them, did you? 

Sophia Johnson: I didn't know anything myself. What was I supposed to tell them? 

Mike Kinnie: The TRUTH would have been nice! Wasn't this a woman who you cared for? Wasn't this a woman that you loved? Wasn't this a woman that you respected?

Sophia Johnson: Yes. 

Mike Kinnie: And you saw her body laying in a pool of blood? And you know that two people possibly are involved? Aren't you going to tell the police about that? 

Sophia Johnson: I was in fear for my life. 

Mike Kinnie: Oh, okay. 

Sophia Johnson: I was involved. 

Mike Kinnie: Who were you in fear of your life from? Who threatened you? 

Sophia Johnson: My husband told me to follow his lead, that my mother still lived in Vancouver.

Mike Kinnie: Okay, so you're afraid of your husband. Is that who you're 

afraid of? 

Sophia Johnson: Yes. 

Mike Kinnie: I see. I submit, ma'am, that you made up stories to protect the ones you love, and that you love yourself the most. 

You know when you watch a movie you've seen before... and even though you KNOW what's gonna happen... a little voice in your head wonders, "What if, somehow, it plays out DIFFERENTLY this time? That's how I feel pretty much every time I watch Sophia on the stand.

Her youngest brother? Shane?

Shane Correia: Fuck me. Damnit. Okay. Ughhhhh.

He was also grappling with this new story, in his way.

Shane Correia: Because it just means that Sophia’s still LYING!

Be it a stupid lie… or an actual admission to having known more about Marlyne’s murder than Sophia originally said.

Shane Corriea: God damn it, Sophia! Alright, so she's at the scene of the crime. In the bathroom while the murder might happen.

Now, again, Sophia today… says she was NOT at the scene of the crime. That the story she told on a stand WAS A LIE. So… WHY did she do it?

Sophia Johnson: I feel nervous on the stand, I feel defeated. I thought, fuck, I'm going down anyway. I'm going back to prison for something I know I didn't do. One of these two people did it. Either Brad or Sean, and at the time I didn't know, but they were pointing the finger so much at me that it didn't make sense.

Three days after testifying, Sophia was called from her cell. There was a verdict in her second trial.

Judge: We the jury, find the defendant, Sophia Johnson, not guilty of the crime of murder in the second degree.

Sophia Johnson: I was in disbelief. And thank God I was sitting ‘cause I may have passed out if I were standing.

Stupid or not, "the plan" had helped create just enough reasonable doubt to acquit Sophia. Was she innocent? Not necessarily. But in the eyes of the law, she was…and is.. NOT GUILTY of Marlyne’s murder.

Sophia has told me many times, in many ways... that she knows lying on the stand was wrong. It’s also ILLEGAL, for the record. It’s called perjury,    and the statute of limitations for it in Sophia’s case has LONG since past. Still…

Sophia Johnson: I mean, I'm embarrassed by my lies that I told on this stand, I'm embarrassed that I went to that level.  

But ask her if she REGRETS it... and the answer... is a lot more complicated.

Sophia Johnson: What would have been okay to say? Because the truth WASN’T. And I did tell them I was never there in the beginning. They didn't hear it. That came out at the first trial and I was convicted.  What should scare the shit out of every person listening is that the truth did not matter, and that the LIE is what set me free. That is our justice system.

Marlyne's family was reeling.

Roylene: It's like, it's over?

Detective Rick Buck ner was reeling.

 Rick Buckner: What the hell are we gonna do now? You know, she just got away with murder.

The prosecutor, Mike Kinnie, was... probably also reeling himself. But he had also prepared. Moments after Sophia’s “not guilty” verdict was read, Kinnie piped up…

Sophia Johnson: Not so fast, your Honor… 

Mike Kinnie: Your Honor, there is an INS hold on her.

There’s an INS hold on Sophia, Kinnie says. Today, it would be called an ICE detainer. Or, in other words...

Sophia Johnson: We have papers for her deportation.

Amory Sivertson: Wow… before you’ve even left the courtroom.

Sophia Johnson: Before I even left the courtroom. 

Judge: This memo then directs the jail staff to hold Ms. Johnson in custody until federal authorities remove her.

Sophia would be sent to Guyana. A place she hadn't been since she was very young, but one she was legally tethered to having not become a U.S. citizen before being arrested for murder at age 23. But it was NOT the murder she was now NOT guilty of that would get her deported. It was the plea she had taken in her embezzlement case. The one I mentioned WOULD come back to bite her. Sophia had served her time for the embezzlement, but taking a plea at all for it… had made her a convicted felon. And if the state of Washington couldn't remove her from society, they'd remove her from the country she'd grown up calling home. A few months later, in early 2006, they did.

Amory Sivertson: You just let me know when you’re ready. 

Fifteen years later, in 2021… I’d be sitting across from Sophia, in-person. But we were NOT in Guyana. We were somewhere… she isn’t technically welcome. Because, Sophia says, she didn’t feel all that welcome in Guyana either.

Sophia Johnson: They asked me if I knew someone named Anthony Snow. And I thought, you've GOT to be getting me. Yeah, I know who that is.

And you do, too.

Amory Sivertson: Good morning. Is this Anthony Snow?

Next time…

 Anthony Snow: I've been expecting a call, actually. 

I talk to Sophia’s brother, Sean Anthony Snow Correia… And his story about the day of the murder… changes too.

Sean Correia: And the only person who could really address THAT could be the one person who knew everything. And that was Sophia.

Beyond All Repair is a production of WBUR, Boston’s NPR, and ZSP Media.

It’s written and reported by me, Amory Sivertson. It’s produced by Sofie Kodner.

Mix, and sound design by production manager of WBUR Podcasts Paul Vaitkus. Original scoring by Paul Vaitkus and Matt Reed

Theme and credits music by me.

Our managing producers are Samata Joshi for WBUR and Liz Stiles of ZSP Media. Our editors and executive producers are Ben Brock Johnson of WBUR and Zac Stuart-Pontier of ZSP Media.

If you have questions of ANY kind, we are allllllready collecting them for a future listener Q&A episode. Send ‘em along to beyondallrepairpod@gmail.com. Voice memo or written message, you do you: beyondallrepairpod@gmail.com. You can also find pictures and a lot more information on Instagram by following “WBUR Presents.”

Do me a favor, will ya? Drink some water, consider a nap, listen to a gooooood song, eat a treat, go for a little walk, tell someone you love ‘em, and then tell them about this show. In that order.

THANK YOU for listening.