#UNSOLVED: Woman stabbed to death in Pine Valley home

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington detectives are still looking for the person who killed Carol Ann Johnson in her Pine Valley home almost seven years ago.

Meanwhile, only one of her siblings is still alive. Johnson’s brother Rob refuses to give up looking for answers in a murder that remains, unsolved.

“She was a kind soul, very kind. She would literally give anybody the shirt off her back,” Rob Johnson said.

Carol was Rob’s older sister. Rob lives in Charlotte now.

“Our father was a, he was the ‘Saving Private Ryan’ story. He landed on Omaha Beach D-Day morning and so his sort of strength and perseverance was kind of incredible, and our mother was very passionate, so Carol had both of those streaks,” Johnson said.

They also had a brother named Mark. Rob said they were all very close growing up in Wilmington. In 2011, Rob said he was at Sunset Beach for the Fourth of July, when he got an unexpected call from Mark.

“He was dealing with pancreatic cancer at the time, so I just assumed that he was calling to give me an update on how his treatment was going,” Johnson said.

This call was about Carol.

“He said that the Wilmington Police Department had contacted him and Carol had been murdered in her own house,” Johnson said.

Corporal Robert Pearce with the Wilmington Police Department said Carol was at her Pine Valley home on July 3.

“Carol’s live-in boyfriend left to go to work,” Pearce said.

Pearce said her boyfriend, Christopher Munn, left at 8 that night.

“When he returned home at 3 o’clock in the morning on July 4th, he found Ms. Johnson deceased on the floor,” Pearce said

Pearce said carol was stabbed multiple times, but there were no signs of a break in and the door was unlocked.

“He felt it was unusual that the door was unlocked and there was a light on on the outside,” Pearce said. “There was an old pocket book that was missing that was found a few days later in the Pine Valley neighborhood.”

Neither detectives nor Rob know who did it, but they do know one thing.

“Whoever did it, she knew,” Johnson said. “I am certain of that, because, you know, she let the person in.”

Rob said Carol did not have any enemies that he knew of, but she was also a very private person. Rob said Carol was going to get married that year.

“She was 59 years old, never been married,” Johnson said. “She had, you know, several.. college, and over the years, but, you know, I guess the right person never struck her fancy. Well, in this case, she was, you know, very excited to be married.”

Rob said the wedding was supposed to be in May of 2011.

“She had to call her engagement off. She confided in me,” Johnson said. “She found out some stuff that didn’t set right with her and felt it was important not to get married at this time.”

Rob said after calling off the wedding, Carol asked her fiance to move out.

“He was no longer living there,” Johnson said. “I think he was trying to get back in her good graces.”

“He’s definitely probably one of the ones that was closest to Carol, but I’m not going to say he’s a suspect and I’m not going to say he’s been ruled out,” Pearce said.

In the meantime, detectives are looking for any new information or witnesses.

“No matter how minor it was,” Pearce said. “You know people forget things and people may remember something and not thing about it and you know it could be very detrimental to solving this case and bringing justice to Carol.”

Rob believes justice will come.

“Whoever did this is carrying amazing baggage and I think, at some point, that person is going to seek salvation or whatever or someone that knew that person, knows that person,” Johnson said. “I try to remain eternally optimistic that justice on this earth will be served.”

If you saw anything in the Pine Valley area or have any kind of information, please contact the Wilmington Police Department.