It’s been five years since Oak Park was stunned by one of the most appalling crimes in the village’s history.
On April 13, 2020, beloved Oak Park attorneys and philanthropists Tom Johnson and Leslie Jones were stabbed to death in their home on Fair Oaks Avenue in the village. An autopsy revealed that both husband and wife had been stabbed more than a dozen times.
The community was left to mourn two individuals remembered as beacons of light advocating for criminal justice reform, fair housing, support for children and opportunities for local artists.
Police at the time described the circumstances as “suspicious” but maintained that the murders were a targeted, isolated incident. Officials said Oak Park police would call on resources from outside the department to solve the case. Since then, Oak Park police have been mostly silent on the status of the investigation.
Oak Park police addressed the case in correspondence with Wednesday Journal for the first time in five years this week, saying that detectives are still following new leads in an effort to find those responsible for the brutal murders.
“OPPD is still following up on investigative leads as late as December 2024,” according to Dan Yopchick, Oak Park spokesperson. “Phone records, FBI lab submissions and anonymous crime tips are still being verified. The FBI and Illinois State Police have been involved in various parts of the investigation. The case officer has retired but the case has been reassigned for continued investigation and is ongoing,” he said.
The FBI also responded to a Wednesday Journal request for comment on the investigation.
“As you may know, DOJ policy prevents the FBI from speaking on investigations that may or may not be ongoing,” the agency’s Chicago office of public affairs team said in a statement. “Our agency remains poised to assist law enforcement partners when we receive a request. Should our partners develop information that suggests a federal crime was committed, we remain poised to provide additional investigative resources.”
The memory of Johnson and Jones is still strong in Oak Park, where they raised their four sons and two godsons and lived for many years.
“My brothers and I are beyond grateful for the support we’ve received from our family’s neighbors and close friends in Oak Park,” said eldest son Ben Johnson in 2020. “My parents always said that Oak Park was a unique place and seeing how the members of this village have come together to help our family during this horrendous time just serves as another example of the deep sense of caring and unwavering positivity of this community. We’ve never been more proud to call ourselves Oak Parkers.”
Longtime friend and neighbor Rita McLennon first met the couple volunteering at the Legal Assistance Foundation, a non-profit providing free legal services for impoverished people. She maintained a close personal and professional relationship with both of them over the next few decades. Johnson worked at the Legal Assistance Foundation for years before founding a firm of his own, which Jones would eventually become a partner of, leaving her position as an ethics lecturer at Northwestern’s School of Law.
McLennon was one of more than 600 people to attend the virtual memorial service for the couple the family held in April 2020, as loved ones mourned the losses while the planet navigated the chaotic first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like many who knew them, McLennon remembers Jones and Johnson for their brilliance as attorneys, their generosity and their friendship.
“They were both amazing, philosophical, spiritual, intellectual people,” McLennon said last week. “I think about them every day.”
After their deaths, Jones and Johnson were honored with the “Art Heals” memorial fund at Oak Park’s Hephzibah Children’s Association. The fund supports the organization’s art therapy program.
“After their tragic passing, the community collectively mourned their loss, as those of us at Hephzibah did,” the organization wrote describing the fund. “Leslie was a Hephzibah board member for many years, and they both were champions for the arts. To continue to honor their legacy and passion for both Hephzibah and creating new space for artistic expression, the Art Heals fund was established. The Art Heals fund is designed to support Hephzibah’s art therapy program, which helps children express and understand emotions through art.”
The fund is just one of several local memorials established to honor the couple.
In addition to serving on the board of Hephzibah, Jones was president of the Oak Park Area Arts Council.
Both graduates of Harvard Law School, the couple worked on deeply influential and sometimes controversial cases and collaborated closely with some of Chicago’s top officials over the course of their careers.
Johnson served as chief counsel to the mayoral campaigns of Harold Washington, Tim Evans and current U.S. Representative Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
“I think Tom may have been the most decent person I’ve come to know,” Garcia told Wednesday Journal in 2020. “Tom was someone you could lean on during difficult times.”
“He helped us understand how the inequity in society plays out in the criminal justice system as well,” said Garcia.
Johnson spent nearly 30 years as a hearing officer for the Chicago Police Board, serving as a judge in hundreds of disciplinary cases, including cases connected to several fatal officer involved shootings.
As time passes, Oak Park is still waiting for answers on what led to the deaths of two of its most respected community members.
