Missing woman’s family sues over police missteps

Delbert Johnson claims law enforcement errors in the search contributed to his wife’s death

By Kevin Harden

Pamplin Media Group, Feb 12, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Courtesy of Johnson Family

Delbert Johnson is suing law enforcement agencies in Washington and Beaverton because of mistakes that he claims led to the death of his wife, Beverly J. Johnson, two years ago. The Johnsons were married 51 years.

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The family of a 69-year-old Beaverton woman who disappeared for 12 days two years ago is suing the state of Washington, Grays Harbor County, Wash., and the city of Beaverton for what they say was negligence that led to her death on a snowy logging road in the Olympic National Forest.

Attorneys representing Delbert Johnson, widower of 69-year-old Beverly Joyce Johnson, filed a lawsuit in mid-December seeking at least $3 million in damages for the “loss of mutual love, affection, companionship, society and consortium.”

The lawsuit was filed in Grays Harbor County Superior Court. No trial date has been set for the case.

The city of Beaverton has not responded to the lawsuit’s claims. Grays Harbor County has turned the issue over to the Washington Counties Insurance Risk Pool, which has assigned a Seattle attorney Duncan K. Fobes to handle the case.

Fobes said the lawsuit had “no merit to any claims against Grays Harbor County,” and the county “will be responding accordingly.”

According to the lawsuit, the Beaverton Police Department failed to enter Johnson’s missing person information correctly into the National Crime Information Center database so the agency would be notified in the event she was discovered.

The search for Beverly Johnson involved Beaverton police officers, Grays Harbor County sheriff’s deputies, police officers from Elma and Aberdeen, Wash., and Washington State Patrol.

Several law enforcement missteps

Beverly Johnson had a history of twilight seizures that impaired her memory and often left her unable to communicate. She was taking medication for the seizures at the time she disappeared on Jan. 27, 2007, after an afternoon trip to the Beaverton City Library.

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