A man from Dallas is said to have hidden the dead body of his girlfriend inside his closet after allegedly killing her.
Garland police fielded received a tip from a witness early Monday morning stating that a woman had been killed and her body might be found in an apartment on West Wheatland Road in Dallas, according to The Dallas Morning News.
At about 1:50 a.m., officers from the Dallas Police Department arrived at the residence, where the occupant, 34-year-old Omar Lucio, reportedly refused to come out for about an hour, as per a DPD news release. After taking Lucio into custody and gaining entry to the apartment, police discovered 27-year-old Corinna Johnson unresponsive and wrapped in bedding inside one of the closets. Efforts made by Dallas Fire-Rescue to revive her were unsuccessful, according to WFAA.
Johnson was a mother of a 7-year-old boy and had been in a relationship with Lucio for about seven years, according to her sister, Erica Hernandez, as reported by DMN. A GoFundMe has been established to assist the victim’s family in meeting funeral expenses and more, having already raised just over $5,000.
The accounts from both the unnamed witness in Garland — a woman whom Lucio had allegedly been seeing for several months — and Lucio upon his arrest suggest that the alleged domestic violence incident began after Lucio and Johnson had been forcefully removed from a bar in Downtown Dallas late Saturday evening.
He reportedly “snapped” when the couple began arguing in his vehicle, but he allegedly “thought it was going to be okay and that they could sleep it off and wash it off” upon arriving back at his apartment, Lucio allegedly told investigators, who noted that he had visible injuries on his hands, per WFAA.
As the witness told police, she had picked up Lucio at 1 a.m. early Sunday but forced him to return to check on Johnson after learning about the fight, per DMN. She recalled entering Lucio’s place and seeing the victim bruised, bloodied, and lying on the bathroom floor.
The suspect told police that he had cleaned Johnson up and put her in bed, where she allegedly told him she would be fine, but she stopped breathing shortly thereafter, according to WFAA. The incident, which occurred in Council Member Tennell Atkins’ District 8, is still under investigation.
Lucio was booked into Dallas County jail on murder charges. However, he also faces several charges stemming from what appears to have been at least one separate street racing incident in Grand Prairie. These charges include several counts of collision causing injury or serious injury and racing on a highway causing serious bodily injury. His total bond amount is $1,585,000.
In Dallas, there have been 3,995 reports of family violence crimes made this year as of April 18, according to data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard. Of the 63 homicides recorded, nine have fallen under the family violence category. While just over 60% of all violent crime victims have been black or Hispanic women, the vast majority of murder victims have been black or Hispanic men.
DPD has been significantly understaffed for several years, with just 3,000 officers able to be deployed in the field, whereas a City report recommended a force of about 4,000 to fulfill public safety needs. However, when compared to the taxpayer dollars spent on police in high-crime areas like Chicago or New York, DPD operates on much less less, with the Dallas City Council allocating the department only received $654 million this fiscal year.
