JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Payne Fair Johnson Jr., 70, is accused of murdering Philip Hetzner, 67, in Tallyrand in December 2022. Now, a newly released arrest warrant details how investigators connected the dots and made an arrest.
Johnson may have gotten away from the scene in Tallyrand, but according to police, a cellphone and lots of surveillance video helped them find their suspect.
Hetzner was shot and killed on December 4, 2022. According to the arrest warrant, Johnson was seen on surveillance footage on Wigmore Road around Hetzner’s job, on the same day.
Hetzner’s cell phone got fraud alerts that led police to two different ATMs on Beach Boulevard. Surveillance video captured Johnson trying to use Hetzner’s debit cards at least five times. All the attempts were declined. Police find more surveillance video as Johnson in his silver Honda visit a pawn shop on Atlantic Boulevard.
In the same day, the warrant describes how Johnson drove 3 hours and 27 minutes to Port Wentworth, Georgia, and was caught on surveillance footage at a gas station.
As the investigation into Hetzner’s murder began, Johnson’s fiancée filed a missing persons report on December 5, because the same day of the murder, Johnson told his fiancée he’d be home soon, but never arrived.
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According to the warrant Johnson kept moving and was found in South Carolina on December 7 by Effingham County deputies during a traffic stop. March first, Johnson was arrested in Spartanburg South Carolina by the US Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force.
Johnson was brought back to Florida and remains in jail. He has a background in the concrete industry but there’s no clear connection as to why he chose Tallyrand for a stake-out.
Johnson has been convicted in the past for robbery, assault, aggravated assault, burglary, receiving stolen goods and counterfeiting. All in Georgia.