Area Marine held in Wal-Mart abduction, slaying

By: Staff and wire reports | Friday, January 21, 2005 11:12 PM PST ∞

A Marine was arrested Friday in Willcox, Ariz., in the slaying of a college student kidnapped as she left work at a Wal-Mart store in Texas, authorities said. Pvt. Johnny Lee Williams, 24, of Tyler, Texas, was taken into custody when he sought medical treatment after being shot by a man he allegedly tried to rob.

He was being held on suspicion of armed robbery, plus allegations of kidnapping and homicide in the death of 19-year-old Megan Leann Holden, authorities said.

They said Williams, last assigned to a Marine unit at Twentynine Palms, allegedly drove the victim's red 2002 Ford F-150 pickup truck to a hospital in Willcox to get treatment for a bullet wound in his shoulder.

"We were not aware that he was in Cochise County," Carol Capas, public information officer for the Cochise County Sheriff's Department, said Friday night.

Capas said Williams had been released from the hospital and he was on his way to the county jail in Bisbee, Ariz.

Marine Corps authorities at Camp Pendleton said Williams joined the Corps Jan. 13, 2001. He was a logistics clerk last assigned to the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, at Twentynine Palms.

The 1st Marine Division is under the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton.

Williams served a tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, and his awards include the Presidential Unit Citation, National Defense Service Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

He was given a bad conduct discharge Feb. 26 for using marijuana, according to the base. The Marine was on voluntary appellate leave pending a case review by the Navy-Marine Appellate Review Activity in Washington, D.C.

Williams was not entitled to any military pay and allowances while awaiting appeal, authorities said.

Holden's abduction Wednesday was captured on videotape after the Tyler Junior College student clocked out from her clerk's job just before midnight at a Tyler Wal-Mart.

A man in a long, dark coat who was seen loitering at the store's front entrance for some time ran up behind Holden as she was getting into her truck and either hit or pushed her, Tyler police spokesman Don Martin said.

Two days later Holden's body was found near Stanton, about 380 miles west of Tyler. Police said she died of a gunshot wound.

Capas said at 6:10 a.m. Friday a man called from a Bowie, Ariz., RV park and said that a black man had demanded all his money and he had shot the robber. Deputies later found Williams with a gunshot wound in his shoulder in a hospital emergency room and Holden's pickup truck in the hospital parking lot.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.