A Brooklyn man was sentenced Wednesday to 26 years to life in prison for murdering and dismembering his girlfriend, then remaining in her East New York apartment for weeks while using her money and concealing her death in 2022, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Justin Williams, 27, was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun after being convicted in June of second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse, fourth-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, second-degree criminal impersonation and fifth-degree welfare fraud.
Williams was convicted following a jury trial that concluded in June.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the victim, 22-year-old D’Asia Johnson, endured violence during her relationship with Williams, who was subject to an order of protection requiring him to stay away from her at the time of her death.
“Johnson suffered horrific violence at the hands of this defendant, who then compounded that cruelty with coduct that showed a staggering disregard for her life, her dignity and the loved ones desperately searching for her,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “He has now been held accountable for that horrific brutality, and I hope her family can find some measure of solace and justice in today’s sentence.”
According to evidence presented in the case, Johnson entered her apartment on Linwood Avenue in East New York on Aug. 21, 2022, and never left.
Prosecutors said Williams stabbed Johnson multiple times during the early morning hours of Aug. 22, striking her heart and lung. He allegedly stabbed her five times in the front of her torso and four times in the back.
Williams then dismembered Johnson’s body, placed her remains in garbage bags and kept them in the apartment’s bathroom for nearly a month, prosecutors said.
While Johnson’s family and friends searched for her, Williams allegedly continued living in the apartment. Prosecutors said he impersonated Johnson when contacting her workplace so that her paychecks would continue.
Williams also allegedly used money from Johnson’s bank account to pay women engaged in prostitution whom he brought to the apartment. He used her public benefits to purchase food for himself and brought his adolescent son into the apartment while Johnson’s remains were still there, according to prosecutors.
When Johnson’s relatives came to the apartment looking for her, Williams allegedly pretended to be Johnson in an effort to hide her death.
Johnson’s remains were eventually discovered after building personnel became concerned that they had not seen her and conducted a wellness check. Police were then contacted.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Matthew Perry of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Ernest Chin, Deputy Bureau Chief, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Leila Rosini, Bureau Chief.