30 years after Amanda Gardner's murder in Topeka, friends ask her killers be denied parole
Tennille Kress used her friend Amanda Gardner's name 16 times in her letter to the Kansas Prisoner Review Board.
Kress asked the board to not release those who beat and strangled Gardner, 16, to death in 1993 in Topeka.
"One time for every year she lived," Kress said of the times she mentioned her friend. "Not nearly long enough."
Kress is among those asking the review board to ensure that Donise Johnson, Joe Johnson III and Jerry High — who were all convicted of her murder — remain behind bars.
Many of those writing to the review board are friends of Gardner's who were also about 16 when she was killed and were badly traumatized at an early age, Gardner's older sister, Renee Gardner, said Saturday.
"It's something you learn to live with, but never get over," Renee Gardner told The Capital-Journal.
'She had a smile that lit up the world'
Amanda Gardner, affectionately known as "Mandy," was the youngest of four children of Irene and Marvin Gardner, founders and owners of Topeka's Gardner Flooring, which closed in 2016 after being open for 57 years.
Irene and Marvin Gardner died in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Amanda Gardner attended Highland Park High School. She wasn't perfect and had problems, but her life was changing for the better at the time she died, Kress said.
"Gosh, I wish she was still here," said Michelle Perez, who identified herself as Gardner's best friend. "She had a pure and giving heart."
A lot of people felt close to Gardner, as she had a gift for making others feel special, Kress said.
"She had a smile that lit up the world," she said.
'She wanted to make others feel loved'
Gardner worked at the McDonald's Restaurant at Walmart's Hypermart USA on S.W. Wanamaker Road.
Her co-workers included Donise Johnson, then 20, who had recently moved to Topeka from Camden, N.J.
Donise Johnson and her brother, Joe Johnson III, then 19, wanted to return. Donise Johnson's boyfriend — High, then 17 — also wanted to go.
On April 25, 1993, Gardner agreed to give the group a ride to the local bus station in her red 1990 Ford Probe, which was equipped with a cell phone and a high-quality stereo system.
Instead, they abducted her, brutally beat her about the head and strangled her to death using a purse strap near the Johnsons' home in the 5500 block of S.W. Huntoon.
Gardner would have gladly given that car to her killers — or even driven them to New Jersey — if they'd just asked, Kress said.
"That was how she was," she said. "Even when she hurt or struggled, she wanted to make others feel loved."
'We were deprived of seeing Mandy's face one more time'
High and the Johnsons left Gardner's body in a wooded area near what was then Kaw Area Technical School, 5724 S.W. Huntoon.
A 13-year-old boy found her body two days later. Her casket had to remain closed at her funeral.
"We were deprived of seeing Mandy's face one more time," Kress said.
Donise and Joe Johnson III and Jerry High given long prison sentences
After murdering Gardner, her killers played basketball, Kress recalled.
They then went in Gardner's car to Camden, N.J., where they were arrested after it became involved in a hit-and-run crash.
High, Donise Johnson and Joe Johnson III were all convicted as adults of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, and received prison sentences that left them ineligible for parole for 30 years.
A fellow defendant, Christopher Johnson, then 17, was arrested in Topeka and pleaded guilty as a juvenile to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. He spent four years in the state youth center.
Donise Johnson, now 50 and an inmate at Topeka Correctional Facility, first became parole-eligible in April. The prisoner review board denied her parole and decided not to consider her again for two years.
Because they were convicted of theft in addition to kidnapping and murder, High and Joe Johnson III didn't become parole-eligible until several months after Donise Johnson did.
'Cruel and unusual punishment' — for the victims
Joe Johnson III, now 49 and an inmate at Hutchinson Correctional Facility, could be released at the earliest on Oct. 28 if the review board chose to do that, the Kansas Department of Corrections website said.
The prisoner review board will hear public comments about the potential parole of inmates who include Joe Johnson III over Zoom from 9 to 11 a.m. Aug. 9 and Aug. 22, that site said.
Comments may also be emailed to KDOC_PRB_Public_Comment@ks.gov, it said.
High, now 47 and an inmate at El Dorado Correctional Facility, could be released at the earliest on Dec. 28 if the review board opted to do so.
Public comments about High's possible parole are to be heard at yet-to-be-scheduled dates in October.
"It feels like cruel and unusual punishment for the victims to have to go through this for every defendant," Renee Gardner said. "We have to relive the worst nightmare of our lives over and over."
Amanda Gardner's friend refuses to dignify her killers
Kress refused to dignify High and the Johnsons by saying their names in her letter to the review board opposing their release.
Instead, she called them by their prison inmate numbers.
She wrote, "They are people who took a life viciously, and then played a game of basketball."
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topekan Amanda Gardner died in 1993. Her killers are up for parole.
