Criminal Justice Advocate Arrested, Charged with Murdering NYC Man, Chopping Up His Body

File photo of a crime scene. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A criminal justice activist has been arrested and charged with murder after police found a dismembered body in his Bronx apartment.

According to a New York Police Department press release, 48-year-old Sheldon Johnson was arrested on the night of March 7 in the Bronx’s 44th Precinct. He was charged with murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon.

The deceased has been identified as 44-year-old Bronx resident Collin Small.

“Police responded to a wellness check at 979 Summit Avenue, within the confines of the 44 Precinct,” at approximately 8:25 p.m. on March 5.

“Upon arrival, officers found an unidentified human torso at the location,” the release added. “EMS responded and pronounced the aided deceased on scene.”

Surveillance footage obtained by the New York Post from the Bronx apartment where Mr. Small lived allegedly showed Mr. Johnson going in and out of Mr. Small’s apartment wearing a series of disguises.

One segment of video apparently shows him exiting the elevator on the sixth floor, cautiously scanning the hallway before heading to Mr. Small’s apartment and going inside. On one visit he is seen wearing “a dark coat over a yellow hoodie,” carrying a mop and a bag that sources later said contained cleaning supplies.

During another trip to the apartment, he’s seen wearing a light-colored jacket and a fisherman’s hat and carrying two bags. On a third trip, he’s seen wearing a dark, quilted coat, sunglasses, and a long, blonde wig.

The building superintendent told the Post that he wanted to “do a welfare check on a tenant because the person who is coming in and out is not the tenant.”

Around 2:00 a.m. on March 7, Mr. Johnson is seen wheeling a blue bin into the apartment, but he is not seen taking the bin back out.

The superintendent also said residents told him they had heard someone in Mr. Small’s apartment saying, “Please don’t—I have a family,” before hearing two gunshots.

In a phone interview with The New York Times, the superintendent, identified as Orlando Medina, said he didn’t know the man going in and out of Mr. Small’s apartment, but he had a key and acted like “he owns the place.”

When police arrived at Mr. Small’s apartment for the welfare check they found Mr. Johnson inside. While waiting for a warrant to search the premises, they detained Mr. Johnson. It was during the search of the apartment that police found Mr. Small’s torso and one of his feet in the large blue bin Mr. Johnson was seen bringing into the apartment.

New York Daily News reported that police found Mr. Small’s other foot, arms, legs, and head in the freezer.

Police believe Mr. Johnson shot Mr. Small before dismembering his corpse.

As he was escorted out of the police station in handcuffs and wearing a white, hooded jumpsuit, Mr. Johnson reportedly told journalists “I’m innocent.”

‘I Could Always Go Back’

A month before the murder, Mr. Johnson was a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, along with Josh Dubin, the director of Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice.

“I really said, ‘I have to change my life,'” Mr. Johnson told Mr. Rogan of his violent, criminal past. “I have to change my life. I just can’t do this.”

In 2016, Buzzfeed published a story about Mr. Johnson’s family, describing how his father, Sheldon Johnson, Sr., had begun a cycle of imprisonment that has plagued the family to this day.

His father, who was addicted to crack cocaine, was sent to prison in 1986 for rape.

Mr. Johnson Sr. was convicted in 1999 of attempted murder and robbery among other charges in Manhattan. Then, in April 2008, his 14-year-old son, also named Sheldon Johnson, was involved in an assault that led to the death of a 24-year-old graduate student from China named Minghui Yu.

The New York Times reported that police said “he is a cold-blooded predator with little capacity for remorse.”

Following his release in 2019, Mr. Johnson became a social justice advocate with the Queens Defenders office, claiming to make efforts to rehabilitate himself and to help other youth escape the dangerous cycle of gang life.

During his interview with Mr. Rogan, Mr. Johnson boasted of having been a member of the Bloods gang that was at “the top of the food chain,” saying he maintained his gang leadership role even while incarcerated.

He said it was in 2005 that he said he began to rethink his life and decided to leave it all behind.

“My son was growing up hearing stories about my so-called notoriety. I just didn’t want to be that dad,” he told Mr. Rogan. “I said to myself, ‘I’ve been doing bad for so long, I’m going to try to do something good. If all else fails, I could always go back to doing something bad. But let me try. Let me give it a shot.”