Husband charged with murder in overdose death of ailing wife
Duane Johnson, 58, is accused of killing his wife, Debra Lynn Johnson, at a "death party" at their Searles, Minnesota.
SEARLES, Minn. — A Minnesota man accused of removing his ailing wife from a care center, taking her home and holding what he described as a "death party" before she died has been charged with murder.
Fifty-eight-year-old Duane Johnson had been charged with criminal neglect in the January death of his wife, Debra Lynn Johnson, at their home in Searles. Brown County prosecutors have now added a third-degree murder charge.
Prosecutors say Johnson told investigators he was fulfilling a promise to his wife that he would not let her die in a nursing home when he removed her from a transitional care facility against medical advice.
Authorities say Johnson told them he gave some methamphetamine to his wife because she wanted to party before her death.
A criminal complaint says the 69-year-old woman died of a methamphetamine overdose.
