Chapter 15

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

“Dale was a very macho person...He believed it had to be his way or  no way,” said Sandra Schultz. He was always  right. Annette told  me they were  not allowed  to  go  to  church.  He  was  exactly the opposite   of   what   he   is   today,   a  meek, poordale-type  person, because  that’s the  way he wants  to be  perceived. He  acts like  he’s weak, like he’s  a weak person.  ...It’s too bad  people didn’t know him before this—see the difference.”

“He [Dale Johnston] likes  to ride horses,” Hilson explained, “a very gentle-type person. He’s almost like  a Thoreau-type  individual—likes nature, so he  was the  town oddball...They  lived away  from town, approximately 12-15 miles  out of town. They were relatively  new in the  area. They came  from Xenia [Ohio].  He was much  older than Sarah,  who was approximately  40. Town gossip,  I’m sure, was stirred  up because  of his  supposed relationship with Annette.”

“Dale  Johnston is  convinced,” says  Suhr,”in the correctness of the entire  judicial system, and he believes that  eventually the system  will release him [because]  he’s innocent. He’s  convinced that his God will not permit  him to go to the electric chair for something he didn’t do.”

Many unanswered  questions still remain  about the murder weapon, other evidence  and the location of the   killings.  Although   Johnston’s  conviction appears  to  have  been  based  primarily  on  his lifestyle  and not  on any  concrete evidence, the main   question   still   remains.   Was  there  a reasonable doubt?

Dale Johnston  summed up his outlook.  “I hope you truly do have an open  mind and a reasonable mind, this  being   so  you  can   come  to  only   one conclusion.”