‘Murder Among Friends’ Highlights Murdered Johnstown NY Teen From 1998

March 17th, 1998, three friends wanted to teach John Morgan some manners, and it ended in murder. 

This horrific murder made headlines nationwide in 1998. On March 12, John Morgan was kidnapped by Amanda Djzierson, 20, Lucas Whaley, 17, and Theodore Cook, 17. Djzierson was Morgans former girlfriend, and they previously lived together at South Melcher Street Extension. During Morgans time with Djzierson he racked up a $900.00 phone bill and owed for pay-per-view movies.

The Daily Gazette says Morgan, who was living in Fonda at the time of the murder, was beaten, cut and bound. After salt was rubbed into his wounds, he was strangled, and bleach poured down his throat.

Murder Among Friends episode titled 'Puzzles and Pieces" will be on the ID channel June 29 at 9 pm. The show will attempt to shed some light on the horrific murder with State Investigator Israel Toro of Troop G, who was the investigating officer at the time. A promo for the show says:

In Johnstown, N.Y., a young man's disrespectful behavior has his friends seeing red; the group plots to teach him a lesson, but things go horribly wrong, kicking off a murder mystery more intricate than a jigsaw puzzle.

Investigator Toro tells The Recorder “So, they lured him through Amanda (Dzierson) to a vehicle in the village of Fonda and brought him to Melcher Street Extension in Johnstown where they tortured him through the night. At the end, they decided they had to do something, and the decision they made was to kill him. They first tried to bury him out back, but it was March and they couldn’t get the shovel through the dirt. The next thought was to take the body to the Adirondacks and dump it. In the interim, daylight rose and they were concerned that someone would see them and they retreated to Johnstown where they were stopped by the officer.”

The Recorder also reports Whaley was convicted of second-degree murder and is in maximum security state prison in Auburn. Cook was convicted of second-degree murder and is in medium-security state prison in Mohawk. Dzierson was convicted of first-degree kidnapping, is in medium-security state prison in Albion and is eligible for parole nest year.

Watch this true story unfold tonight on the ID channel tonight.

[Information from The Recorder, The Daily Gazette, TheTVdb.com]