FAIRFIELD, Ohio – Vicky Fible said she wasn't expecting much when she walked into the Fairfield police department Thursday, but she came out wearing a big smile.
Four years after her 15-year-old daughter, Chelsea Johnson, was stabbed to death, Fible says there's a new detective on the case and she has new hope that police will soon make an arrest.
"It's going to happen." Chelsea Johnson's mother Vicky Fible believes arrest of daughter's killer imminent. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/MFLds51okU
— Jay Warren (@JayWarrenWCPO) November 17, 2016
"Coming out I've got a smile on my face. I feel good," Fible said Thursday. "I had assumed they gave up because I hadn't heard anything, and Fairfield reassured me that they're on it, there's more people on it now.
"I can't say anything, but I'm so happy. I'm really, really happy. I'm looking forward to …
"It's going to happen."
It was an act of desperation in 2014 when Fible stood at the main intersection of Hamilton and begged Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones to take a look at the case.
Johnson's body was found near a creek right in the heart of Fairfield.
"Everything reminds me of Chelsea. Poor baby didn't deserve this," Fible said.
Fairfield police gave the case to the prosecutor, but a grand jury declined to indict a suspect and the case was left open.
George Davis of Cincinnati was sent to prison for drug trafficking, importuning and having weapons under disability for trying to trade drugs for sex with Chelsea. He has since been released.
"Since day one, he was the last one to see her," Fible said. "I just ... that's my opinion. I mean, until the facts come out, but I feel like time will tell."
Fible's meeting with police followed Wednesday's announcement that the sheriff's office has identified a person of interest in the Katelyn Markham homicide and that they also were very close on the Johnson case.
"With both cases where we're at today, we're asking for help from the public if they know anything about either one of these two cases," Sgt. Rob Whitlock said.
If you have any information, call Det. Joe Nerlinger at 513-759-7344.
