MOHAVE COUNTY, AZ — Nearly 10 years after a 22-year-old man was shot and killed in Mohave County, detectives have made an arrest in the case. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office says investigators took 46-year-old John Dee Page Jr. of Kingman into custody on a first-degree murder charge tied to the 2016 death of Matthew Johnson.
Authorities say the arrest came Tuesday, Sept. 22, after a long-running investigation that continued well after the original case response. Page was booked into the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility in Kingman without incident.
Deputies responded after a call about a man shot on Dec. 14, 2016
The killing dates to Dec. 14, 2016, when police responded to a call reporting a male victim had been shot. Deputies rendered aid at the scene until the victim could be taken to a local hospital.
Johnson later died at the hospital, and an autopsy determined his cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. The sheriff’s office identified the victim as Matthew Johnson, who was 22 years old at the time.
From the start, investigators treated the case as a homicide and worked the scene for evidence. The arrest did not come until years later, after the case remained open and active.
Investigators say early evidence was not enough for an arrest
Detectives collected and processed evidence from the scene and interviewed potential witnesses soon after the shooting. Even with that work, the sheriff’s office said investigators could not find enough evidence at the time to support an arrest.
That left the case unsolved for years. The office says the investigation never stopped, but the available information in the early stages did not rise to the level needed for charges.
Cases like this can depend on whether evidence can be linked to a suspect in a way that holds up legally. In this case, detectives did not make an arrest until additional work was done on the original materials and witness statements.
Crime scene evidence was resubmitted as the case stayed open
According to the sheriff’s office, evidence from the crime scene was resubmitted over time as the investigation progressed. Detectives also re-interviewed subjects connected to the case, continuing to build out the file.
That extra work eventually led investigators to identify Page as the suspect. Once he was identified, authorities obtained a felony arrest warrant in the homicide investigation.
The sheriff’s office did not say what specific piece of evidence triggered the arrest, but it said the case moved forward through continued investigative efforts. The renewed examination of evidence appears to have been central to closing the gap left by the original investigation.
John Dee Page Jr. was arrested Tuesday and booked without incident
Detectives contacted Page and arrested him Tuesday, Sept. 22. The sheriff’s office said the arrest was carried out without incident, and Page was then taken to the county detention facility in Kingman.
Page, who is 46 and lives in Kingman, is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection with Johnson’s death. Jail booking records were not included in the sheriff’s statement, but the agency confirmed he was lodged at the Mohave County Adult Detention Facility.
The arrest marks the first major public step in the case since the 2016 shooting. Authorities have not announced any additional suspects.
Sheriff’s Office says the homicide investigation remains ongoing
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office says the investigation is still open, even after the arrest. That means detectives may continue reviewing evidence, witness statements and other details tied to the case.
For Johnson’s family and the community, the arrest closes one chapter in a case that had remained unresolved for years. But officials have not said whether more evidence could lead to further action or whether prosecutors will add any new charges.
The case also shows how long homicide investigations can remain active when investigators continue to revisit evidence. In this instance, a decade passed between the killing and the arrest.
