ST. JOHNSBURY — Police are investigating the Friday death of a man awaiting trial for allegedly kidnapping a preteen and stabbing his girlfriend in the neck two years ago.
St. Johnsbury resident Johnnie Simpson Jr., 45, was found unresponsive on Railroad Street at about 3 p.m. Friday by town police, according to the Vermont State Police.
He was taken to Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital, where he died. The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington over the weekend ruled that Simpson’s death had been suspicious after conducting an autopsy.
State police on Monday said they learned Simpson had been dropped off at Ocean State Job Lot, a store in the Green Mountain Mall on Memorial Drive, at about 1:30 p.m. He was seen walking south toward Railroad Street, wearing a reddish-orange winter jacket, investigators said.
Detectives are now trying to talk with anyone who saw Simpson between then and the time he was discovered.
Simpson was at the center of a three-hour standoff on Nov. 26, 2019, that ended with his arrest.
At about 6:50 a.m. that day, a state trooper arrived at a home on Moose River Drive to find Simpson’s girlfriend holding a blood-soaked cloth to her throat. The woman told the trooper she had been putting dishes away when she slipped and fell on a knife before driving from a Caledonia Street home to the Moose River Drive house, where relatives live, court records show.
The trooper then received word of an apparent hostage situation at the Caledonia Street home and drove there. Outside that house, a relative of Simpson’s told the trooper that the woman had come to the Moose River Drive home that morning and claimed Simpson had stabbed her, records show.
The relative had driven over to the Caledonia Street home and smashed open the door, trying to get Simpson to turn over to him a preteen who was inside. But Simpson had refused, the relative told the trooper.
Simpson had barricaded himself and the preteen inside an upstairs room of the home, fixing the door to its frame with screws, police said.
Eventually, Simpson surrendered to police, records show. In a police interview, according to officers, Simpson admitted he had attacked the woman.
“I could’ve killed her if I wanted to,” Simpson said, according to police, adding, “I did hurt her, yes, on accident.”
Family members had been trying to get Simpson help because he was “having mental issues,” police records show.
Asked if detectives are considering whether Simpson’s case played a role in his death, State Police spokesperson Adam Silverman said: “We’re examining all possibilities connected to this case.”
After his arrest, Simpson was ordered to have no contact with both the preteen and the woman. But Caledonia County Judge Michael Harris changed those conditions in recent months.
In a Sept. 1, 2020, court order, Harris granted exceptions to let Simpson have supervised remote contact with the preteen. The order also let Simpson apply in writing to have unsupervised contact in person with the preteen after providing proof of mental health treatment appointments. Both exceptions were tied to the recommendations of a counselor.
That order also let Simpson apply in writing to have contact with the woman he was accused of stabbing, again after providing proof of attending a treatment program.
Simpson’s last court appearance came one week later. A court order from that day again modified his conditions of release, loosening his 24-hour curfew to between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
State police want anyone with information relevant to the case to call the St. Johnsbury barracks at 802-748-3111. People can also submit information anonymously online.
