CAMDEN, N.J. — An inmate at the federal prison in Fairton has been charged with murder in the death of his cellmate, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said Friday.
William Vontrail Johnson, 39, of Oklahoma City, is charged by criminal complaint with one count of murder, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced. Johnson made his initial appearance Thursday in federal court in Camden before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Pascal.
According to the complaint, Bureau of Prisons staff at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton found Johnson’s cellmate unresponsive in a pool of blood on March 4, 2025. He was not breathing and had no pulse. Staff began lifesaving measures and the man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next day.
A forensic pathologist determined he died of puncture wounds to the head, neck and chest and ruled the death a homicide, prosecutors said.
Johnson allegedly told FBI agents that he first tried to choke the man and let go when he believed he was dead. When the man began breathing again, Johnson “tried to kill him in all kinds of ways,” including stabbing him with a pencil, according to the complaint.
At the time, Johnson was serving a federal sentence for child sex trafficking imposed in the Western District of Oklahoma, prosecutors said.
The murder charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The FBI’s Newark office and the Bureau of Prisons’ Special Investigative Services investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason Richardson and Jeffrey Bender of the office’s Camden branch are prosecuting.
The charges are accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
This report is based on information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office press release
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