CORBIN, KENTUCKY: A Kentucky man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for fatally shooting his pregnant girlfriend after he found out she was a federal witness planning to testify about his methamphetamine trafficking operation. On Wednesday, July 26, US District Judge Robert E Weir ordered Daniel Scott Nantz to serve a life sentence in a federal penitentiary for killing Geri Johnson who was 29 years old at that time.
In the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Nantz reached a deal with prosecutors in March this year and pleaded guilty to one count of intentional murder of a federal witness for shooting and killing Johnson. Prosecutors dropped charges of kidnapping, conspiracy to distribute meth, possession of a gun in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and possession of a gun as a person convicted of domestic violence in exchange for his plea.
Who is Daniel Scott Nantz?
According to Law and Crime, the murderer was involved in the trafficking of methamphetamine in Whitley County from March 2017 to March 2019, according to the prosecutors. In the spring of 2019, a federal grand jury indicted some of Nantz’s suppliers and co-conspirators in the methamphetamine. Johnson, who was romantically involved with Nantz and pregnant at that time, was one of the co-conspirators indicted.
Nantz learned that she had given a statement to the authorities and had been given the option to cooperate against him before killing Johnson. He had previously disclosed to Johnson that he thought he was a target in the federal methamphetamine trafficking investigation.
Nantz penned a handwritten note which was found inside his trailer that read, "Funeral/fed’s pulled geri out asking questions.” It indicated that he was increasingly worried about the possibility of being apprehended for drug trafficking and feared that his pregnant partner might testify against him.
Nantz's text messages to Johnson
Authorities found the disturbing text messages Nantz sent to Johnson in the days leading up to the incident. Johnson reportedly sent Nantz a message saying she planned to turn herself into authorities on March 13, 2019, to which he replied, “I’ll kill you w***e.” Nantz sent her another text the following day, saying, "You’re very dangerous for me. Very, very dangerous.”
Court documents also claim that on the day Johnson was murdered, Nantz told one of his allies, "Geri’s talking to the feds. I think she’s telling. If so, I’ll just kill her.”
How was Johnson killed?
On March 16, when Johnson was alone with Nantz's minor children at his trailer, he confronted her and led her outside before fatally shooting her twice with a .38 revolver. One of the bullets hit her right back shoulder and the other pierced her neck. According to the facts stated in the plea agreement, the autopsy revealed that the shot through her neck caused her to “drown in her own blood". Nantz took Johnson to a hospital in Corbin, Kentucky, after the shooting but was declared dead. She was 33 weeks pregnant with Nantz’s child.
Unfortunately, Johnson's daughter was born prematurely via an emergency C-section. The newborn, however, died many days later due to the injuries caused by lack of oxygen and blood loss resulting from her mother’s wounds.
