Tri-Cities toy drive under way in honor of woman slain in 2004

BY JOSH SMITH
11 CONNECTS
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – For kids in the Tri-Cities, it’s a toy drive that will end with Christmas gifts galore. For the family of Bristol native Johnia Berry – who was stabbed to death in Knoxville in 2004 – it’s an ongoing process of grief management.
The third annual Johnia Berry Holiday Toy Drive started Tuesday. It is a cooperative project by the Berry family, Food City grocery stores and media sponsor WJHL-TV 11 Connects.
“This is what Johnia would be doing if she were alive right now,” Joan Berry, Johnia’s mother, said of the effort to collect toys for children. “Every year, she went crazy buying gifts for the kids around her. That’s why we do it in her memory.”
A native of Lebanon, Va., Johnia Berry lived in Bristol, Tenn., for most of her younger years and graduated from Tennessee High School. She graduated from East Tennessee State University and planned to walk at graduation in December 2004.
But less than two weeks before graduation day, she was stabbed to death inside her apartment.
Four years later, a suspect, Taylor Olson, was arrested by Knox County investigators and charged with murder, but he committed suicide before the case went to trial.
“Her life was so full of love, too much to just end like that,” her mother said.
New unwrapped toys can be dropped off at collection barrels at most Tri-Cities area Food City stores through Saturday, Dec. 5. The toys will be distributed to charities and local schools that assist the region’s needy children every Christmas. Distribution day is Dec. 6, the fifth anniversary of Johnia Berry’s death.
“It’s the saddest and happiest day of the year for us,” Joan Berry said.