Disturbing details are emerging in the murder of a young mother whose body was discovered inside a closet.
Dallas police found the body of 27-year-old Corinna Johnson at an apartment complex along West Wheatland Road early Monday morning.
Police discovered the young mother inside a bedroom closet, wrapped in bedding, ‘bludgeoned’ to death, according to a witness cited in an arrest affidavit.
Omar Lucio, 34, is charged with Johnson’s murder. The victim’s family told NBC 5 the two had been dating.
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Dallas police went to the apartment complex early Monday morning only after another woman came forward and reported the incident to police in Garland, according to an arrest affidavit.
The female witness told police she and Lucio are ‘friends with benefits’ and that he reportedly called her early Sunday morning asking her to pick him up.
The distraught man confessed to the woman that ‘he laid hands’ on Johnson and ‘stated he had knocked some sense into her and that she became unconscious,’ according to the warrant.
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The woman allegedly convinced Lucio to return to his apartment where she said she saw the victim ‘lying on the bathroom floor with a bruised and bloody face and looked to be dead.’
The woman did not immediately report the alleged incident to the police but did so hours later after her friend convinced her to come forward.
Police in Garland then reached out to Dallas police with the witness’ account.
Police said they went to the apartment complex and found Lucio initially unwilling to walk out of his home. Lucio was later taken into custody. Officers reportedly found bloody clothes inside his vehicle.
Officers later reported following a trail of blood from the bathroom to a bedroom closet where Johnson’s body was discovered.
They were unable to quickly identify the victim.
Lucio reportedly waved his rights and agreed to speak with Dallas police detectives confessing he, "has a temper and in the vehicle, he snapped." He did not, however, explain how Johnson ended up wrapped in bedding and inside the closet.
“My sister didn’t deserve this at all,” said Erica Hernandez. “She was just a ray of sunshine. She was the life of the party.”
Johnson’s family said Lucio had shown signs of being abusive and should be "locked up forever."
“I want him to feel the pain that my baby felt,” said Lopez. “She was so full of life. A happy person. She loved this man who took her life away from her!”
Multiple family members said they repeatedly warned Johnson against returning to Lucio. According to her mother and sister, the 27-year-old also had a disability and functioned at the level of a teenager.
Johnson leaves behind a 7-year-old son who has not yet been told his mother is gone.
“It’s going to break him,” said Lopez through tears.
Johnson’s family is especially grateful to the stranger who came forward just in time for police to recover her body and arrest her alleged killer.
“I just want to say thank you to her for reporting this,” said Hernandez. “Because without her, we would probably still be looking for my sister.”
Lucio is being held on bonds totaling $1.5 million for murder and also for an unrelated case involving alleged street racing and a crash. Johnson’s family said the crash happened in November and also involved the young mother.
Online court records show Lucio has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2007 including assault and rape cases out of Houston.
Johnson’s family is holding several fundraisers to help cover the costs of the unexpected funeral.
A ‘Justice for Cory’ fundraiser will take place Saturday, April 20 at Daiquiri Dash on E. Pioneer Parkway in Arlington beginning at 11 a.m.
The family also has a verified GoFundMe account, click here for more information.
