Overland Park — A Kansas City, Mo., man was charged Saturday with stabbing to death a man who had raised him as his own son, police said.
Nugene F. Wilson, 19, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated arson in the death of Michael L. Johnson, whose body was found in his burning Overland Park apartment on Wednesday.
Johnson was a former bounty hunter who was convicted in Douglas County District Court in a 2002 case in which prosecutors argued he and another man had exceeded their authority in trying to locate a suspect.
Wilson was in the Kansas City, Mo., jail Saturday awaiting extradition to Johnson County. Bond was set at $500,000.
"He was basically raised by the victim," said Detective Jeff Cowdrey of the Kansas City homicide unit.
Lida Johnson, Michael Johnson's mother, said Saturday that family members had thought until Nov. 20 that Johnson was Wilson's biological father. That day, she said, Wilson told her, Johnson and other family members that Johnson was not his biological father. Nevertheless, she said, Johnson told Wilson he would continue to love him as a son, as he had for 19 years.
Cowdrey said the two men had a fight, but declined to discuss any motive for the killing.
Johnson, 36, a former bounty hunter, had felony convictions in Douglas County for attempted aggravated burglary and making a criminal threat. Johnson was charged in 2002 with forcing his way into a Lawrence home and using threats and deception in an attempt to find a suspected felon who had jumped bail.
Johnson was sentenced to two years' probation in September 2002. Kansas authorities recently had categorized him as an absconder.
Cowdrey said the slaying was unrelated to Johnson's work as a bounty hunter, to his criminal convictions or to outstanding warrants against him.
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