Man accused of abandoning his son’s body in the woods

A Laclede County man accused of leaving his son’s body to decompose in the elements after he shot himself has been charged. According to the probable cause statement, the son of Thomas Dean Johnson was last seen on December 5th, and he found his son’s body on December 10th laying in a wooded area on property in the 26-thousand block of Oklahoma Drive. Johnson reportedly took a gun from the scene, cleaned the mud from the gun barrel, and then sold it. He said he didn’t touch his son’s body and didn’t report it because he was embarrassed by what his son had done. Authorities found the 20-year old’s body after receiving information from a source on December 16th. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Thomas Dean Johnson on a charge of abandonment of a corpse, with a bond of $5-thousand-dollars.