ara johnson

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Upshur County Sheriffs Office Tx (TX)

Missing From:

Big Sandy, Texas

Summary:

Ara Denise Johnson was a 5-year-old African American girl who disappeared from her family's mobile home in Big Sandy, Texas on April 2, 1986. She was last seen in her bedroom and was believed to have been abducted. In 2007, serial killer David Elliot Penton was identified as a person of interest, though he has not been charged in her case. Ara has never been found.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Ara was last seen in her bedroom of her family's mobile home in the 300 block of Boulder Street in Big Sandy, Texas, on April 2nd, 1986. Her father stated he last checked on her between 1:00 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. When Ara's parents woke up between 6:30 a.m. and 6:45 a.m., she was gone. The back door to the residence was open, and the dark orange bedspread she was sleeping with also disappeared. Her bedroom was otherwise undisturbed, there was no sign of forced entry to the home, and no one heard anything unusual that night. The parents immediately contacted the police to report their missing child. Authorities performed an extensive search for the child. Law enforcement agencies brought tracking dogs to search the areas surrounding the mobile home. However, the dogs couldn't locate Ara's scent anywhere in the surrounding areas. Searchers on horseback combed the sites as well but found no trace of her. Investigators also searched nearby abandoned wells and dragged nearby stock ponds. Officers on horseback searched the banks of the Sabine River, which was located just a few miles away from Ara's residence at the time. Despite all efforts by local police, on & off-duty deputies, firefighters, and security men from the nearby Ambassador College, no trace of the child was ever found.

Additional Details:

The family was still grieving this loss when Ara disappeared. Her mother & father divorced sometime after her disappearance. On July 2nd, 1985, Ara lost her older brother, Corey Johnson, when he drowned in Galveston, Texas. Several months after Ara was abducted, someone contacted the child care center where her mother worked and arranged to meet her at a football field in Big Sandy to tell her of news regarding the case. The call was a hoax and the individual(s) had no information about her daughter at all. The phone calls likely came as a result of a $2,000 reward fund established for any information leading to the return of Ara or information that could lead to whoever abducted her. By November 1986, Ara's mother had gotten her listed with over 55 missing children's agencies across the country and planned to contact more. In 2007, authorities identified David Elliot Penton as a person of interest, not just in Ara's disappearance, but the disappearances and murders of several other young girls, including Amber Crum and Angelica Gandara. Penton has been incarcerated in an Ohio prison since 1987, for the death of his infant son and the murders of three Texas girls. Ara's mother, father and another man all took polygraphs Penton was known to be in the area at the time of her abduction and allegedly mentioned her case to a cellmate which prompted investigators to look into his possible involvement in her case. He has not been charged in connection with any of these disappearances, however.

Case Last Updated:

Apr 24, 2026