Sleeping With Death: Who was Johnia Berry and what happened to her?

In December 2004, Johnia Berry, a 21-year-old former ETSU student, was stabbed to death in her West Knox County Brandon Park Apartment, which she shared with her flatmate, Jason Aymami. She was stabbed multiple times during a botched robbery in the early morning hours. Aymani was also injured during the attack but managed to call 911 from a nearby store while Berry died in the building's hallway.

A man named Taylor Olson was arrested in connection to the case nearly three years later after the DNA evidence found at the crime scene proved that he may have been the killer after all. However, Olson committed suicide in custody before being brought to justice.

An upcoming episode of Oxygen's latest true-crime series Sleeping With Death will re-examine the case, narrating the details of the brutal crime while also addressing numerous unanswered questions that still surround the case. The episode, titled Left for Dead, airs on Sunday, November 6, 2022, at 7 pm ET.

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Johnia Berry died in the apartment's hallway while banging on neighbors' door for help

Johnia Berry was sleeping in her Brandon Park Apartment when she was brutally stabbed, at least 22 times to the face and upper body, to death during a robbery. Her flatmate, Jason Aymami, was also present during the incident and was injured in the process. Sources state that one or more robbers entered the victim's apartment, attempting to steal her car keys.

Berry, brutally stabbed, managed to stumble out of her apartment and went down the stairs into the hallway to knock on the neighbors' doors seeking help, but to no avail. Shortly after, she succumbed to her wounds. On the other hand, Aymani claimed that he managed to escape and rushed to the building next door, knocking on doors for assistance. However, he also faced the same luck with his neighbors as Berry. Aymani then ran to a nearby store and called 911.

At the crime scene, authorities discovered a grisly scene, starting with a blood trail from Berry's bedroom to a bloody puddle in the living room. She was discovered by the cops on the steps near the front entrance, and her blood was found on all of her neighbors' doors.

The murder weapon, a kitchen knife from the victim's home, was also discovered in Berry's bedroom with a fingerprint on it. Other substantial traces of blood were discovered, along with a blood trail going down the back stairs and out the back door. In Aymami's bedroom, a piece of cardboard with a partially bloodied shoe print on it was discovered. These key pieces of evidence were sent for examination.

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Johnia Berry's suspected killer called her murder "an accident"

Johnia Berry's high-profile case garnered major media exposure. Moreover, it took two and a half years of investigation and approximately 400 DNA samples for the authorities to come to a conclusion finally. The case led to the adoption of a new law called "The Johnia Berry Act of 2007," which mandates that anybody arrested for a serious offense must provide a biological sample for testing.

Nearly three years later, authorities eventually received a tip concerning a potential suspect in Berry's case. A Knoxville resident named Taylor Lee Olson, 22, who was nearly an exact match to a police sketch and had a criminal record for theft, was then arrested in connection to the killing after his DNA proved to be a perfect match to that obtained at the crime scene.

Before his arrest in September 2007 on grounds of felony murder, first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and aggravated burglary, Olson was a person of interest in Johnia Berry's murder for about four to five months.

At the time, Olson reportedly said:

"I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen. It was an accident."

Additionally, he was detained that same year for breaking the terms of his probation for a separate crime.