The widow of an Atlanta police officer who was slain more than 30 years ago has passed away. Mildred Johnson was the wife of Officer Alfred Johnson, whose murder in 1980 remains unsolved.
Investigators had hoped to bring his widow closure as she battled terminal cancer. She lost that fight this past week.
Johnson's murder remains the only unsolved murder of an Atlanta police officer ever. His case simply disappeared for decades. When the police department moved into new offices in downtown Atlanta two years ago, the folder was found and the case was reopened.
On the day in 2010 that Atlanta police announced the case would reopen, Milfred Johnson pledge to beat back lung cancer and finally see justice for her husband.
Alfred Johnson was murdered during the robbery of a southeast Atlanta grocery story.
On Thursday, Johnson's daughter's Tonya and Kessa said it had remained her hope until her final breath.
"I wish there had been closure before she passed. That was the one thing she wanted the most. But I do still have some faith that someday something will happen," said Kessa Johnson.
Vince Velasquez, the case's lead detective, is also hopeful that the murder can be solved. Velasquez said Alfred Johnson's wife was still in love with her slain spouse.
"It was a pleasure to meet her. Even going through what she was going through, she was filled with just joy and her character and her personality would light up the room," said Velasquez.
The funeral for Mildred Johnson will be held on Friday. There is a reward being offered for information in the death of Officer Alfred Johnson.
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Officer Alfred Johnson was murdered in 1980.
