Brothers to stand trial in 2013 cold case slayings of Macomb mom, daughter, 11
It’s been nearly a decade since Tina Geiger and her 11-year-old daughter Kristina were found stabbed multiple times in their apartment in a crime that shocked those who knew and loved the pair.
This week — two years after they were charged in the cold case — two Detroit brothers are to stand trial in the 2013 killings of the mother and her daughter in Macomb County.
The double homicide had gone unsolved for several years, until improved technology provided investigators with evidence to make an arrest.
Who were the Geigers?
The 47-year-old mother and her daughter, also known as Krissy, lived in a second-floor apartment at Parkway Village Apartments near Metropolitan Parkway and Harper Avenue in Clinton Township and were frequent customers of a nearby 7-Eleven.
At the time of her death, Kristina was a student at Glen H. Peters, a school operated by the Macomb Intermediate School District, and was one of a dozen students in a class of 10- to 12-year-olds in the moderately cognitively impaired range.
The principal told the Free Press in 2013 that Kristina had “an infectious smile,” was a cheerleader, hardworking and wanted to please people. He also said Tina Geiger was “always on top of things” and worked hard at being a good mother.
After their deaths, the Geigers were remembered at Macomb County Probate Court, which handled developmentally disabled and mental illness cases involving Tina Geiger, according to a 2013 Free Press story. It stated the court adopted the family at Christmas after Kristina’s father died of cancer a few years earlier, giving them food, clothing, gently used household items and other things.
Though court records from 2010 indicated Tina Geiger had bipolar disorder and mild intellectual disability, she was able to live on her own and take care of her daughter, who neighbors and relatives said went everywhere with her mother. They described Tina Geiger as a good mother who loved and cared for her daughter.
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Who are the brothers charged?
Henry Jermaine Johnson, 37, and his brother, Tony James Johnson, 42, are charged in the Geigers' deaths. They face two counts each of first-degree premeditated murder and homicide-felony murder.
Both have been held in the county jail since their arrests in 2020, with their joint trial to start Wednesday in the county’s circuit court. Each has his own attorney.
An attorney representing Tony Johnson during his arraignment in 2020 said he had no felony convictions and one misdemeanor on his record and no assaultive criminal history. The attorney said Tony Johnson had been unemployed because of the coronavirus; but worked a job in Roseville prior to the pandemic, and that he was living with family and had a then-1-year-old son who was living with his significant other.
An attorney representing Henry Johnson said during his arraignment in 2020 that he only had prior traffic tickets and one old domestic case. He, too, was unemployed, but had been called back to work. At that time, the attorney said Henry Johnson was married with six children and lived and owned a home in Detroit.
In 2013, Henry Johnson lived in a different apartment building at the same complex as the Geigers and his brother would visit, according to testimony during a two-day preliminary exam in April 2021 in 41B District Court in Clinton Township.
Authorities said the brothers were seen on surveillance video interacting with the Geigers at the nearby 7-Eleven and asked to walk them home. The mother and daughter were not heard from again.
What happened to the Geigers?
The Geigers were found July 30, 2013, by an employee at the complex who was sent to check on them after the pair had not been heard from for several days. They were found in the same clothing that they were wearing at the 7-Eleven shortly before they walked out with who authorities say were the Johnsons.
Tina Geiger was found in the living room with 30 stab wounds on the side of her body below chest level and 21 stab wounds involving the right side of her face and neck, county medical examiner Dr. Daniel Spitz testified during the preliminary exam. There also was a stab wound each to her face and right chest, according to the testimony.
Spitz testified that Kristina was stabbed more than 20 times in the front and side of her neck and also was stabbed in her back. He also testified that she may have been sexually assaulted.
After the slayings, township police said there was no sign of forced entry and a weapon had not been recovered.
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What did police find?
Police found a bloody palm print on a closet door in Kristina’s bedroom as well as blood in the hallway of the apartment complex.
Police compared the palm print evidence with several other people in the years after the Geigers’ deaths. They revisited it again in 2019, with the lab indicating technology was better, according to preliminary exam testimony.
In August 2020, police were notified the lab had a match — Tony Johnson, according to the testimony.
Authorities also stated that a form of DNA on blood in the hallway matched that of Henry Johnson. That form of DNA found under Kristina’s fingernails also could be from one or both of the Johnsons, according to the testimony.
Defense attorneys argued during the preliminary exam for the charges to be dismissed.
One attorney questioned the last time the Geigers were seen by anyone; how long the DNA or blood in the hallway had been there and testimony that Tina Geiger had other issues with someone else in the complex. The other attorney argued a lack of identification of his client, Tony Johnson.
But the district court judge found there was probable cause to bind the case over to the circuit court.
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Has anyone else been charged in the case?
Yes, but not in the deaths of the Geigers.
In October 2013, Jay T. Miller, then 29 and of Clinton Township, initially was described as a top suspect in deaths of the mother and her daughter. But he was released from the county jail after he was sentenced to probation on charges stemming from the murder investigation.
He pleaded no contest to lying to a police officer during a violent crime investigation and for assault, resisting and obstructing a police officer. Miller was sentenced to one year of probation and 91 days in jail, with credit for 91 days served.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Brothers to stand trial in 2013 cold case murders of mom, daughter, 11
