Salt Lake City man sentenced to prison for murder after admitting to strangling wife

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Larry Johnson was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on Thursday after admitting to strangling his wife, Victoria Johnson.
• He expressed deep remorse, attributing his actions to mental health struggles saying he "felt a demon take possession of me."
• Victoria Johnson's sister said she often wishes to call still, said Victoria Johnson was handicapped following a stroke.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City man said he was "deeply sorry" before being sentenced to prison for strangling his wife, 71-year-old Victoria Johnson.

"After three or four hours of battling between forces of light and darkness, I felt a demon take possession of me and strangle my dear wife. There's not a day that goes by that I haven't regretted this. If I could bring her back, I would, I still love her," Larry Johnson said.

Third District Court Judge Adam Mow sentenced Larry Johnson, 66, on Thursday to 15 years to life in prison for murder, a first-degree felony. The judge called it a "deeply tragic circumstance and case."

He told Larry Johnson the sentence is designed both to ensure public safety and to help him get treatment.

'No way to fight'

Instead of looking forward to Palm Sunday each year, Yvonne Kramer said she is reminded of finding out that her sister was killed on that day in 2023.

"I often wish to pick up the phone and call her still," Kramer said, speaking at the sentencing virtually.

Kramer said she was close with her sister, and they both ended up moving back home to Independence, Missouri, after their husbands died — bringing all of the sisters in their family together for a while. The family encouraged Victoria Johnson to come because a stroke had made it so she could not use one arm and one leg, and needed help.

Victoria Johnson later remarried and moved to Salt Lake City with Larry Johnson. Kramer told him at his sentencing that they were planning on coming to visit her in Utah later in 2023, but his actions changed that.

"She had no way to fight you with one arm and one leg," she said.

'Unfortunate situation'

Larry Johnson's attorney, Zachary Powell, said he led a "good and honest life" into his 60's and has no criminal or drug history. He said his client doesn't belong in prison, but under Utah law, that is the only option.

"He did a horrible thing on one day, but that's not who Larry is. … He's a good person, and he's in a very unfortunate situation," Powell said.

Charging documents said Larry Johnson went to a relative's home on April 2, 2023, and told the family that he had killed his wife. Family contacted officers, and a welfare check found his wife was dead with injuries consistent with an assault and strangulation.

Larry Johnson told officers he was "hearing voices" and had not been taking bipolar medications for several months, and "lost the ability to protect his wife."

According to charges, video evidence from the apartment complex they lived in showed Johnson had taken multiple trips to the garbage the previous couple of nights, removing "a large amount of property" from the home.

Larry Johnson pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal that dismissed a charge for obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Police & CourtsUtahSalt Lake County

Emily Ashcraft

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Emily Ashcraft is a reporter for KSL. She covers issues in state courts, health and religion. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.