Deputies: Thompson Confessed To Three Murders

July 22, 2014

The person of interest in a weekend double murder in Santa Rosa County is now behind bars. Derrick Ray Thompson was arrested Tuesday morning without incident in Troy, AL, on a Bay County warrant for homicide in the death of Allen Johnson, a former deputy and businessman.

Johnson’s body was found Monday afternoon at his home. At the time of his arrest, Thompson was driving the Toyota truck belonging to Johnson, and he was in possession of several handguns and one assault rifle.

According to investigators, Thompson confessed to Bay County murder as well as the double homicide in Santa Rosa County. He waived the extradition process and has been transferred to the Bay County Jail.

Thompson was also wanted on outstanding warrants for burglary/grand theft and fraud in Santa Rosa County where he was sought for questioning as a person of interest in the double murder of a husband and wife on Sunday.

Deputies say they responded to a 911 call for a medical emergency just about 8:50 a.m. Sunday in the 6200 block of Goliath Road in Milton. They found 60-year old Steven Tyrone Zackowski and 59-year old Debra Lynn Zackowski shot to death at the home.

Bay County Sheriff Details Events Leading To Arrest

Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen held a press conference this afternoon at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office to release details in the Allen Johnson homicide case and the arrest of the man believed responsible for Johnson’s death.

Johnson was discovered deceased on July 21, at about 1:43 p.m. in his residence on Wilson Avenue when family members, concerned when they could not reach him by phone, went to his home, made entry and found his body.

Derrick Ray Thompson, already a person of interest in a double homicide in Santa Rosa County, was quickly identified as a suspect. Thompson’s vehicle had been left in Johnson’s driveway and Johnson’s vehicle, a silver Toyota Tundra, was missing. Law enforcement believed Thompson had taken it.

Subsequent investigation revealed that while in Johnson’s vehicle, Thompson used money obtained from Johnson and Johnson’s cell phone to purchase illegal narcotics in Bay County shortly after the homicide. Based on this information, a warrant was obtained for Derrick Ray Thompson for the murder of Allen Johnson.

Information on the suspect and the vehicle was distributed to local media and media in the Alabama area when it was suspected that Thompson might go there. Thompson has done electrical work on a hunting lodge in that area.

A citizen in Troy, AL, familiar with a description of the vehicle from media reports, spotted the Toyota Tundra entering the hunting lease late last night and reported it to local law enforcement. A team comprised of the US Marshals, the Troy Police Department, and the Pike County Sheriff’s Office formed a perimeter and, due to the fact Thompson was believed armed and dangerous and weather was bad, decided to wait for daybreak to move in on the suspect.

Thompson attempted to leave just before daybreak. When he got out of the Tundra to open the gate and leave the property, SWAT teams deployed a flash bang device and took the stunned Thompson into custody on the warrant from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office without further incident.

Law enforcement from Bay and Santa Rosa counties traveled to Pike County, Alabama and spoke with Thompson. After interviewing Thompson, investigators believe he committed the double murders in Santa Rosa County on Saturday, July 19, 2014. He fled Santa Rosa County and stayed that Saturday night with a friend on Panama City Beach. Sunday morning, Thompson went to Chipley and stayed overnight in a motel. After checking media reports online, he found out law enforcement had connected him to the double homicide in Santa Rosa County. On Monday, Thompson used a borrowed phone from the motel clerk and called Allen Johnson and asked if he could come to Johnson’s home on Wilson Avenue under the guise of borrowing money.

It is believed that Allen Johnson, an acquaintance of Thompson’s, was unaware that Thompson was a person of interest in the double homicide in Santa Rosa County.

Thompson was able to give law enforcement details about the murder of Allen Johnson not yet released to the public.

Allen Johnson was a deputy with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office from 1974 to 1988, working as a confidential informant prior to becoming a law enforcement officer. Johnson was the first to work undercover in drug enforcement for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Derrick Ray Thompson was charged with an open count of murder in the death of Allen Johnson. He was extradited to Bay County to face a  first appearance on the murder charge. After this the State Attorney’s Office for the first and fourteenth judicial circuits will work together to determine which homicide case will be tried first.

Comments

12 Responses to “Deputies: Thompson Confessed To Three Murders”

  1. Jeremy on July 24th, 2014 10:53 pm

    @ Corrina, I seriously doubt that this man will get out of jail in 10 years. He will get the death penalty no doubt, if convicted on all counts (which he’s already confessed to). Sounds like “your man” may have been a convicted felon carrying a firearm and of course shooting in public. But I’m sure your man was on his way to the Christian Life Science Center to listen to a lecture about being a good boy!

  2. michael on July 23rd, 2014 12:50 am

    i new the victims in milton along with derrick…i was hard for me to believe that he would do anything like this ….but they way i see it is he took a life so his should be taken too…i hate to say but he should get the chair asap not 20 years from now

  3. Grieving in PCB on July 22nd, 2014 2:16 pm

    So thankful he was apprehended. Derrick killed a wonderful man I have known since 1993, and his actions have left our community heart broken and angry. Allen called Derrick a friend, took him on trips to Jamaica, Bahamas, provided him work when he lost his job, Allen trusted this man to be in his home. Do not let the photo they have elected to use to portray Derrick fool you, while he had a good job for a few years, it seems he went on a downhill slide about 2012. That picture is not a good representation of Derrick. After murdering those poor people in Milton, we assume he went to Allen for help on Sunday, as Derrick did not have many people he could call a friend. We ASSUME that he may have asked Allen for help, and Allen probably advised him to turn himself in, or that he went to Allen to ask for money, and Alan refused, causing Derrick to murder him. Derrick then stole Allen’s checkbook and weapons along with his truck, and left Bay county. I hope to find out exactly what happened, but I highly doubt we will get an accurate report of what transpired. I only hope and pray that Allen did not suffer, and that death was quick. I hate to think that he laid on the floor, suffering, and aware that the man he befriended and trusted betrayed him in the worse way possible. I also feel for Derrick’s other two victims, and hope they did not suffer as well. Thank you for apprehending him. Hopefully justice will be served.

  4. Corrina Henschen on July 22nd, 2014 2:14 pm

    knowing how our system works he will be out of prison in 10 years to where my man was just sentenced to 40 years for protecting himself and shot towards the tires of the vehicle that hit him and not evening hitting a tree, but will now die in prison thanks to the crooked way our florida laws are here..

    i have lost all my view in the justice system here.. its a joke

  5. scott on July 22nd, 2014 2:06 pm

    @bewildered — I tell people all the time. You will be amazed at those who hide in suits. There is a reason why its the chosen form of dress for jury trials.

  6. ZL on July 22nd, 2014 2:00 pm

    Getting a photo made wearing a cheap suit makes you look like a successful businessman?

  7. North end resident on July 22nd, 2014 1:41 pm

    Sounds like a case of revenge for something done to him and/or family??? Will be real interesting to hear the full story when it’s revealed to the public.

  8. ECSO Deputy on July 22nd, 2014 9:47 am

    Great job Team.

  9. bewildered on July 22nd, 2014 9:40 am

    He killed a former “deputy” in his home a day after his face was all over the news as a person of interest in a double homicide!!! Who is this monster who looks like a sucessful business man and what is the story behind it?

  10. emschick on July 22nd, 2014 9:08 am

    Great news!

  11. Bob C on July 22nd, 2014 8:37 am

    Glad this guy is in custody before he can murder again.

    Wonder if we will ever know the motive behind all of this?

    BIG Thanks to LEO, Citizens who may have been involved and North E for keeping us informed.

  12. Patti Adkinson on July 22nd, 2014 7:31 am

    THANK YOU JESUS!!!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News