ALMA, Wis. — A Nelson man who killed his live-in woman friend and buried her in Minnesota was sentenced to 30 years in prison. After that, Randall Merrick, now 50, will have 20 years supervised probation. Judge Elliott Levine issued the sentence. Merrick had pleaded guilty in the death of Beth Johnson. She vanished Christmas Day 2016 from a trailer house behind the cafe where she waitressed. Many months later a K9 police unit sniffed her remains 90 miles away in the woods near the St. Paul suburb of Blaine. Merrick was arrested in Rochester, where he had moved.
Breakthrough clues
A month after Johnson disappeared, her adult son, who lived across the river in Wabasha, opened her mail and found that her debit card had been charged for a sledgehammer, trash bags, and industrial cleaners.
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Merrick. A record of exploitation and abuse. Going away for very long time.
Johnson. Age 50 when she was killed.