Brothers kill Michigan mother-daughter after raping 11-year-old girl - Press Telegram

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The future of Tina Geiger and her 11-year-old daughter was cut short by a pair of brothers who allegedly killed them after sexually assaulting the girl.

Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor Joshua Van Laan told a District Court jury Friday that they will convict Tony James Johnson, 42, and Henry Jermaine Johnson, 37, of first-degree murder and first-degree murder after a joint trial before Judge Joseph Toya. The main charge is felony murder, first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Tina and Christine “Chrissy” Geiger, 36, were stabbed to death in their Clinton Township apartment after one of the two brothers suggested they both walk the victims home from a nearby 7-Eleven store early on the morning of July 24. 2013, Van Laan said.

A mother and daughter, both of whom had intellectual disabilities, were “very close” and “happy” in their lives, despite having to overcome difficulties due to their disabilities.

A photo shown in court shows Tina hugging Chrissy in their flat, both smiling.

Henry Johnson, left, and his brother, Tony Johnson, and Tony Johnson’s attorney, Randy Rodnick, appear in Macomb County Circuit Court Friday for the Johnsons’ trial in the stabbing deaths of Tina and Christine “Chrissy” Johnson more than nine years ago at their townhouse apartment Clinton. MACOMBE DAILY PHOTO/JAIMAN COOK

“According to everyone, they were kind, caring, full of hope, full of joy and had a future together,” Van Laan said. “But about a month after that picture was taken, all that hope, all that joy and all their future was completely stolen from them by Tony Johnson and Henry Johnson.”

The trial, which began Friday, is expected to last about a week.

Tony Johnson was charged in August 2020 and Henry Johnson in September 2020 after city police reopened the case in 2019. A resubmission of the bloody palm print showed a match to Tony Johnson, who was arrested for driving a stolen car in Detroit after an initial investigation. DNA found under the girl’s fingernails also matched Tony Johnson.

DNA also came back to a relative of Tony Johnson, who has the same father, and DNA in blood found on the stairwell wall and railing outside the apartment matched a relative of Tony Johnson.

Chrissy Geiger’s body, which had more than 40 stab wounds, was found in a bedroom, Van Laan said. Her body also showed signs of sexual assault, he said.

Tina Geiger’s body was found near the front door with more than 60 stab wounds.

The two men are charged with two counts of first-degree murder: premeditated and aggravated murder. Criminal homicide occurs when someone is killed in conjunction with the commission of another crime. In this case, alleged sexual violence.

Pamela Mitchell, a neighbor of the slain Tina and Christine “Chrissy” Geiger, wipes away a tear as she testifies Friday at the trial of the mother and daughter’s alleged killers, Tony and Johnson. MACOMB DAILY PHOTO/JAMESON COOK

First-degree murder under both theories carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

Pamela Mitchell, a neighbor of the Gigers at the Parkway Village Apartments, off Harper Avenue north of Metropolitan Parkway, testified that she was close to the mother and daughter and had known them for more than three years. She made dinner for them almost every night after Tina Geiger gave her dishes and silverware on Mitchell’s first day at her apartment. “They did something for me,” she said.

She cried during parts of her testimony in which she recalled preparing a “plate” of chicken for each of the Geigers the night before they died. She last saw them later that evening when they returned the empty plates.

A maintenance worker at the apartment complex discovered the Geigers’ bodies days after someone requested a welfare check, Van Laan said.

Mitchell also identified Henry Johnson as a resident of the apartment complex who lived in another building and who occasionally visited her apartment building, one evening having dinner in her unit, where Mitchell also lived with one or two of her granddaughters.

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