Prosecutors Amend Isabelle Johnson's Murder Charge to Second Degree
The murder charge against Isabelle Johnson, the woman accused of killing Jason Coulthart and burying his body at a Freeport property, has been amended to second-degree murder after prosecutors initially charged her with first-degree premeditated murder.
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the charge change on Thursday, September 10. Sheriff’s officials said that at this point investigators cannot prove Johnson planned to kill Coulthart, the element of premeditation that first-degree murder requires — but the charge could be upgraded back to first-degree murder if that evidence emerges.
Johnson, 38, is being held in the Walton County Jail without bond, where she has remained since a judge denied bond following an August 27 hearing at the Walton County Courthouse in DeFuniak Springs. Her pretrial hearing remains set for November 19.
The case began June 25, when investigators found Coulthart’s remains buried in a shallow grave on a property off Sunset Lane in Freeport, under concrete that investigators said was placed to keep a dog from digging up the site. The 43-year-old Niceville man had been reported missing May 24, and investigators identified Johnson as a suspect before she vanished for roughly 45 days.
U.S. Marshals captured Johnson on August 13 at a home in Cottondale, ending a multistate search that made national news. She was booked on an open count of murder, a filing that allows prosecutors to set the degree of the charge once evidence is gathered, and court documents initially showed a single count of premeditated first-degree murder before this week’s amendment.
Five people were previously charged as accessories after the fact for helping Johnson evade law enforcement during the manhunt. The amended charge does not change her custody status, and the case remains scheduled to move toward the November pretrial hearing.
Originally reported by MyPanhandle (WMBB).
Image: WMBB.
