This is 58 year old Duane Arden Johnson of Searles, Minnesota.

Brown County Sheriff's Office
Brown County Sheriff's Office
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Mr. Johnson is accused of taking his dying wife, 69 year old Debra, out of her nursing home and having a “death party” that involved heavy metal, meth and sex. According to Johnson his wife “begged him to take her home to die”.

Here is only a partial list of the couple’s activity immediately preceding Mrs. Johnson’s death.

1.) Duane told authorities he gave his wife meth when they got home.
2.) They “rocked out” to their favorite band, Quiet Riot.
3.) They had sex only two hours before Mrs. Johnson’s death.
4.) After she died, he washed her body and wrapped her in linen “like the Bible told me to do”.
5.) The words “Death Parde(sic) Hell God” were written in red spray paint on the front door.
6.) When deputies arrived, Mr. Johnson came outside naked, yelled that his wife was dead and ran back into the house.
7.) Deputies found him naked in his bathtub “trying to wash little black and white things” off his body.

Also, the sheriff’s deputies found several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition some of which Johnson told them he had stolen. Johnson had previous arrests for assault, DUI and driving with a suspended license. A blood test confirmed that he did, in fact, have methamphetamines in his system.

Apparently, Searles is a very small community so to get a feel for what was going on you should read some of the comments from other residents who had known Johnson and his wife for many years. Here’s one:

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"I've known Duane most of my life. And yes he has always lived to a different beat. But his love for Deb is true and never ending. And as sick as she has been I believe that she begged him to take her home to pass. I pray the authorities involved here understand that Duane believed he was doing nothing wrong. Yes, he needs help with mental illness and addiction. But he isn't dangerous to the public. The guns that he had might have been bought or inherited from family. Please help this poor soul, don't criminalize him for mental health issues."

Based on what Mr. GatorFarmer says, it seems that maybe Duane and his wife were both people with some seriously mental issues that also had some problems with drugs too. I think I disagree with the opinion that someone could be mentally unwell, on drugs and in possession of numerous firearms and somehow NOT a danger to anyone. But I agree with the general assessment that these are people deserving of our pity.

But, check out that mugshot one more time.

Brown County Sheriff's Office
Brown County Sheriff's Office
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I think we’ve found out what became of that dancing old man from the Six Flag commercials...

 

“We like to party” indeed.

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