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Following are news items related to Anne-Christine’s search, her death, and its aftermath.
 


Custody Battle Follows Murder

Custody Battle Follows Murder

By Anna Bauman, Houston Chronicle
More than five years after a mother of two was brutally murdered by her ex-husband following years of alleged domestic abuse, the father of the convicted killer and the mother of the slain woman remain engaged in a lengthy court battle over custody of their grandson.

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The Murderer’s Little Boy

The Murderer’s Little Boy

by OLIVIA GENTILE, Texas Observer
Stephanie Johnson had never liked her daughter’s volatile second husband, Shaun Hardy. But she didn’t know how dangerous he was until six weeks after the couple’s 2015 divorce when her daughter messaged to say he’d just beaten and strangled her. “I thought he was going to kill me,” Anne-Christine Johnson, 29, wrote in a Facebook message just after dawn on June 16.

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‘Anne-Christine Can Rest Easy Now’

‘Anne-Christine Can Rest Easy Now’

by Olivia Gentile, THE GRANDPARENT EFFECT
For three years, Shaun Hardy vigorously contested the charges that he stabbed and suffocated his ex-wife, Anne-Christine Johnson, then left her body to rot in his garage. But on Monday, in a courtroom packed with Johnson’s family and friends, Hardy admitted his guilt in return for a lighter sentence than he may have received at trial.

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League City Man Pleads Guilty to Ex-Wife’s Slaying, Sentenced to 30 Years

League City Man Pleads Guilty to Ex-Wife’s Slaying, Sentenced to 30 Years

by Nick Powell, the Houston Chronicle
It was a day Stephanie Johnson had long anticipated: The opportunity to look Shaun Hardy in the face from across a courtroom and list all the ways he ruined her life on that fateful day in December of 2016 when her daughter, Anne-Christine, was found wrapped in dark plastic and duct tape in his garage.

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Slain Woman’s Mother Reflects on Case, Plea Deal

Slain Woman’s Mother Reflects on Case, Plea Deal

By MATT DEGROOD The Galveston Daily News: LEAGUE CITY - Cook Memorial Cemetery in Liberty, with its historic graves, some of which are more than 150 years old, seems the perfect final resting place for Anne-Christine Johnson — peaceful, quiet and beautiful, said...

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Hardy in Court Papers Admits to Police He Killed His Former Wife

Hardy in Court Papers Admits to Police He Killed His Former Wife

By VALERIE WELLS The Daily News, Jan 3, 2017
Shaun Philip Hardy, 32, and his 5-year-old son lived for most of December while the boy’s mother, clad in Christmas pajamas and wrapped in plastic and duct tape, lay dead in the garage of their suburban home on Chesterfield Lane, court documents released Tuesday revealed.

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Hardy Trial Put On Hold As DA’s Office Files Appeal

By MATT DEGROOD | Oct 26, 2018 | Galveston Daily News

The case against a League City man accused of killing his former wife is headed to an appeals court after a district judge ruled a recorded statement the accused gave police was inadmissible at trial.

The trial of Shaun Philip Hardy, 34, on one count of murder and another of tampering with his ex-wife’s body was set to begin Oct. 15 but now could be delayed for as long as a year.

Hardy is charged with murder in the death of Anne-Christine Johnson. League City police arrested Hardy on Dec. 30, 2016, after finding Johnson’s body wrapped in plastic sheets in his garage.

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Murder Trial of League City Man Delayed by Appeals

Murder Trial of League City Man Delayed by Appeals

By BRYAN Kirk, Patch Staff, Oct. 17, The trial of a League City man who is accused of killing his ex-wife in December 2016 has been delayed, officials said. Defense attorneys for accused killer Shaun Hardy filed a motion on Oct. 5 to suppress a recorded statement made...

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Trial Delayed in Murder of Anne-Christine Johnson

Trial Delayed in Murder of Anne-Christine Johnson

by IVORY HECKER, FOX 26 TV The jury trial in the murder of Anne-Christine Johnson of League City was supposed to start this week. Almost two years after her ex-husband Shaun Hardy was accused of murdering her, the trial has been delayed. It was in early January 2017...

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“It’s been like dying and going to heaven”

“It’s been like dying and going to heaven”

by Olivia Gentile, TheGrandparenteffect.com Earlier this year, I published a long story about a grandmother in Houston, Stephanie Johnson, who had lost access to her grandson after her daughter was murdered and who was fighting in court to be reunited with him. Here’s...

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The Stories that Rocked Houston’s Suburbs in 2017

by Dana Burke, Houston Chronicle Although Hurricane Harvey was the story of the year across the Houston area, these non-hurricane headlines thrust Houston neighborhood news into the national spotlight throughout 2017. There were bizarre murder plots, shocking cases of...

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Church Shooting Again Puts Spotlight on Domestic Violence

Church Shooting Again Puts Spotlight on Domestic Violence

The mass shooting in Sutherland Springs last week left America shocked, searching for a cause, something to explain the brazen slaughter of 26 people as they prayed.

They wondered what could have possessed Devin Patrick Kelley, the 26-year-old disgraced airman identified as the shooter, to act with such cruelty.

One factor that surfaced early in the investigation – a chaotic past of domestic abuse and violence – has proved all too common in Texas in recent years.

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Lawyers: Police Didn’t Let Accused Killer Make Call

Lawyers: Police Didn’t Let Accused Killer Make Call

By VALERIE WELLS, The Daily News, Galveston Lawyers for a League City man accused of murdering his former wife want a Galveston County judge to suppress two recorded statements their client gave to police. Shaun Philip Hardy is charged with the murder of...

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They Walked A Mile in Her Shoes

They Walked A Mile in Her Shoes

photo by STUART VILLANUEVA/The Daily News by Valerie Wells The Galveston Daily News was on hand for Thursday's "Walk A Mile in Her Shoes" event on Seawall Blvd. in Galveston to bring attention to domestic violence.  Anne-Christine's mother, Stephanie Johnson, brought...

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Home Where Grisly League City Murder Took Place Sold

Home Where Grisly League City Murder Took Place Sold

HOUSTON CHRONICLE by Keri Blakinger, Thursday, April 6, 2017 The League City home that was the scene of a grisly discovery last year has been sold, according to property records. The body of 30-year-old Anne-Christine Johnson was found in December in the garage of a...

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Bond Still $1 Million for Accused Killer

Bond Still $1 Million for Accused Killer

A judge Tuesday declined to reduce the $1 million bond keeping accused killer Shaun Philip Hardy in jail, despite testimony from a string of defense witnesses.

Judge Patricia Grady of the 212th District Court ruled the bond would remain at $500,000 on a charge of murder in the death of Anne-Christine Johnson and $500,000 on a charge of tampering with her body. Both charges are first-degree felonies.

Johnson, who was Hardy’s former wife, was found slain Dec. 30 in the garage of Hardy’s suburban home.

Renowned Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who leads Hardy’s defense team, had asked that bonds be reduced to $150,000 for each charge, $300,000 total.

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‘Anne-Christine Can Rest Easy Now’

Slain League City Mom One of Many Family Violence Victims

Anne-Christine Johnson kept ties to ex-husband to be around her son By Harvey Rice Jan. 15, 2017 Updated: Jan. 16, 2017 8:47am GALVESTON - In the summer of 2015, Anne-Christine Johnson accused her ex-husband, Shaun Hardy, of pointing a loaded shotgun at her, choking...

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What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence and emotional abuse.

--National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

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2 weeks ago

Why Did She Stay?
Anne-Christine Johnsnon was killed by her ex-husband on Dec. 8, 2016. She would have turned 38 on March 2. Why did she stay? You know the statistics, it takes on an average of seven times for many women to leave their abusers. She was at 6.5 when Shaun P. Hardy told her he had cancer and their son needed her. It was a trap. In the aftermath of her brutal murder she became the face of femicide around the country. It's hard to separate who she was from who she became after years of horrific abuse, but one friend on Facebook wrote of the Anne-Christine I prefer to remember: "Happy Tuesday Grief and loss can be overwhelming to our nervous system and can trigger all sorts of emotions. It can also teach us to slow down and appreciate the memories. Anne - Christine Johnson was taken from this world to soon on 12/8/2016. She was an absolutely beautiful soul who shined bright with confidence when she walked into any room. I idolized her in so many ways. She was kind, compassionate, generous and allowed me into her life for a brief moment months before she passed. She taught me so many valuable lessons that I will not forget. She taught me to dive into my insecurities and embrace love and hold space for possibilities. She gave me the confidence I never knew I had. She is the reason I changed my perspective on love , friendships, and started therapy. She loved red lipstick, heels and had a free spirit. She is not really gone and is always around us in spirit. When I see someone wearing red lipstick, it makes me smile and think of her. I know she is there in spirit if I see butterflies around me. She is passing by to say hello and forever in my heart. I appreciated her kindness and I’ll never forget it." ... See MoreSee Less
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3 months ago

Why Did She Stay?
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