The Murder of Riley Whitelaw — Talk Murder With Me

Although we might not necessarily love our jobs, we can at least feel confident in the knowledge that while we are working at said job, our employer will keep us safe.

This sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? If our workplace is creating a hazard to our health or is likely to cause us injury, our employer is required by law to fix this. Labor laws exist to ensure that our work doesn’t negatively impact our health or well-being. For example, we’re not supposed to work more than a certain number of hours per week. The age that a person can start work is regulated because we decided that child labor is bad.*

* I realize these are sweeping statements and that there are exceptions in some cases. I also know there are plenty of bad actors who violate these laws, but this isn’t a piece about the strength of U.S. labor laws, so I'm not going to delve into it further here.

What about when it’s a fellow employee who is creating this unsafe work environment? You report them to your manager and they will be dealt with accordingly. At least, this is what should happen. Far too often, however, employees are failed by their higher-ups not taking the appropriate steps to keep them safe from predatory coworkers.

Riley Whitelaw

Riley Whitelaw was 17-years-old and worked at a Walgreens in Colorado Springs, Colorado. When a coworker began harassing her at work, Riley did the right thing, and reported him to the store manager. This should have been enough to keep her safe. Once she made the complaint, the company had an obligation to take action. Tragically, they failed to do so and it cost Riley her life.

Riley was born January 20, 2005 in Colorado Springs. There isn’t much information available about her early life, but at the time of her death, she lived with her mother, Courtenay Whitelaw and her mother’s partner, Chris Johnson. She attended Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs.

Her obituary (which can be found here) paints a picture of a kind-hearted, gentle and compassionate young woman, who was and continues to be so loved by her family and friends. Her passions were drawing, painting and playing the guitar. She achieved straight A’s at school and at the time of her death, she was a member of the AAHS Colorguard, working part time and had just started volunteering at the Humane Society.

Unwanted Advances

Much of the following information was detailed in the arrest affidavit obtained by Colorado Springs’ CBS affiliate, KKTV News.

In the summer of 2021, Riley, who was 16 at the time, complained to her manager at Walgreens that her coworker, 28-year-old Joshua Johnson, was making advances towards her and she felt uncomfortable working with him.

Joshua Johnson’s mugshot (source: Colorado Springs Police Dept Twitter)

According to KRDO News, Johnson was told by store manager Justin Zunino to “keep things professional” (which I thought was a pretty pathetic response to a 17-year-old girl complaining that her 28-year-old creep of a coworker is harassing her). According to Zunino, Johnson seemed “receptive” to the warning. From what I gathered while researching this case, it does appear that Johnson backed off for a while.

In March 2022, Riley’s boyfriend began working at the same Walgreens, which according to another store manager, Crystal Ishmael, made Johnson jealous.

Several weeks before her murder, Riley requested a change in her work hours to avoid working with Johnson. However, when she asked to work extra hours, she was told that in order to do so, she would cross paths with Johnson.

June 11, 2022

At 6:55pm, the Colorado Springs Police Department received a 911 call from Justin Zunino at the Walgreens located at 6820 Centennial Blvd. He told the operator that he had found a body in the store break room and that there was “blood everywhere”.

At approximately 7:02pm, police arrived at the store, where they found the body of Riley Whitelaw in the break room. Blood had pooled around her body and was splattered on the counters and cabinets. The officers observed significant trauma to her neck. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

During an interview with investigators, Zunino told the police that he was contacted by Crystal Ishmael at around 5:30pm, who told him that Riley had not returned from her break. Zunino was not at the store at the time, but returned around 6pm and viewed the surveillance footage. On the footage, he observed Joshua Johnson stacking up boxes in the break room, blocking the camera’s view. When Zunino went looking for Riley, he noticed that someone had taped paper over the break room windows.

A 16-year-old girl, who had been shopping at the Walgreens late in the afternoon on June 11, came forward to police when she realized what had happened. At around 5:45pm, she said, she had been standing in the deodorant aisle when she heard what sounded like a woman screaming and quote, “stall doors slamming”. It didn’t go on for very long, however, so she ignored it. She paid for her items and left.

While she was looking for Riley, Ishmael said she went out to the dumpster area, where she noticed an empty bottle of bleach and a strong bleach smell. According to the affidavit she tried to open the door (I’m not sure which door - the affidavit didn’t make this clear) but she stopped when a male voice shouting out that he was changing.

The Walgreens at 6820 Centennial Blvd in Colorado Springs (source: KOAA 5)

The descriptions of the search by the managers confused me a bit; I don’t really understand why Ishmael had to call Zunino to tell him that Riley was missing. If Riley was on her break, surely it would make sense to just go straight to the break room and look for her? I also don’t get why when Zunino got back to the store, he immediately went to look at the surveillance footage. Again, wouldn’t the most logical move be to go straight to the break room and look there?

I also can’t explain how so much time passed between Zunino looking at the surveillance footage and calling the police. In the affidavit, it says he began watching the surveillance footage when he got back at 6pm. After that, he went to check the break room where he found Riley. Then he called the police, but not until 6:55pm. How long was he sitting watching the surveillance footage?

Johnson is Arrested

The following day, Joshua Johnson was found by state troopers as he walked along Interstate 25 near Walsenburg, Colorado, 92 miles south of Colorado Springs. They noticed scratches on his face and hands, which can be seen in his booking photo. He told them that he had been attacked at a Walgreens in Colorado Springs. I assume that law enforcement across the state would have known about the murder and been on the lookout for Johnson, although I didn’t see this specifically stated anywhere.

The state troopers arrested him and brought him back to Colorado Springs, where he was taken to the El Paso County jail and held on suspicion of first degree murder.

During his first interview with Colorado Springs detectives, he admitted to being in the break room on the evening of June 11. According to the affidavit, he said that he quote, “fell in the blood”, and went home right after “that happened” where he took off his clothes because they were covered in blood. He denied stacking the boxes in front of the camera, even though he could be seen on video doing so. He said that he was the one who shouted out to Ishmael that he was changing when she was out by the dumpster.

He told investigators that he had had a crush on Riley, but this was no longer the case, because he was now involved with Crystal Ishmael. Crystal did not mention anything about being involved with Joshua during her interview, however.

On June 13, Johnson was charged with first degree murder. He remains in El Paso County jail where he is being held without bond. If convicted, he faces a sentence of life in prison. Colorado abolished the death penalty in 2020, becoming the 22nd state to do so. The last time the state executed a person was 1994.

The Autopsy Report

Riley’s autopsy report was released on August 24, 2022. The report, which is 18-pages long, details a frenzied and barbaric attack. Riley suffered 42 stab wounds to her neck, face and chest, as well as defensive injuries to her hands and arms. The multiple stab wounds to her neck were what ultimately caused her death.

An accompanying toxicology report stated that she had no drugs in her system.

The Failure to Protect Riley

Ian Kalmanowitz, a Colorado Springs based labor attorney, spoke to KRDO News about how he believed the actions taken by Walgreens to protect Riley from Johnson were insufficient.

"Riley did everything right, and the company did not,” said Kalmanowitz. He continued: "A young woman like Riley, who's at work with somebody who is creeping her out, was making unwanted advances at her, if her employer doesn't know about it, the employer can't do anything about it, so she has an obligation under the law to report that. But once she does that, it's her employer's job -- it's their requirement -- to keep her safe.”

Kalmanowitz suggested that the store should have been more proactive in protecting Riley, for example, by transferring Johnson to a different store in the area. This does sound as though it would have been a pretty simple fix - if you look up Colorado Springs Walgreens, there is definitely no shortage of store locations.

Kalmanowitz also highlighted Riley’s age as a factor which should have further motivated her managers to take action to protect her.

“This is a situation where she's a high school student working with a bunch of adults," Kalmanowitz said. "I think there's an added responsibility there to ensure that the more vulnerable populations in the workforce are protected."

Bradley Sherman, another Colorado Springs based labor attorney, also weighed in.

"Employees who are subject to these complaints are often not immediately fired because there is no obligation for an employer to do so,” Sherman explained. This is true even if the victim is a minor.

"I'm not aware of anything expressed in the law that takes that into account. However, the employer is expected to act reasonably and I do believe there's a good argument that... What is reasonable for protecting a minor should go above and beyond what is considered reasonable for protecting another adult."

Kalmanowtiz acknowledged the reality that harassment in the workplace is all too common. He encourages victims to advocate for themselves, even if their complaints are ignored. Employees should continue to take their reports up the employee ladder of the company they work for until they find someone who will take them seriously and respond with appropriate actions.

As a last resort, he explained that the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission both exist to investigate employment discrimination complaints.

Men Who Can’t Handle Rejection

Walgreens’ failure to act to protect Riley isn’t the only story here. The greater issue is, in my opinion, that a fully grown adult man was so incensed at being rejected by a teenage girl that he killed her.

The fact that women are murdered everyday because small, pathetic men can’t handle their bruised egos is the real indictment on society. Joshua Johnson’s bruised ego will heal, but Riley is gone forever.

If men could stop harassing and, in the most extreme cases like this one, killing women for the crime of not being interested in them, that would be ideal.

But with the rising number of misogynist (and in some cases violent) social media influencers and the growth of toxic online subcultures like the incel movement (of which I wouldn’t be surprised if Joshua Johnson was a part), I can hardly say that I see the harassment and violence stopping.

For this reason, women and girls need all the protection and support they can get; especially in the workplace. That means taking action when women and girls report feeling unsafe. Not waiting until “something happens”, because too often that “something” is a violent assault that leaves victims seriously hurt or dead.

Johnson’s Preliminary Hearing

Joshua Johnson’s preliminary hearing took place on Friday, September 16, to determine whether there is enough evidence to go to trial. Detectives working the case testified to the evidence they have undercovered so far. There was some new information revealed at the hearing.

One detective testified that they searched Johnson’s locker and found an empty sheath for the multitool they believe was used to kill Riley.

The multitool itself had been discovered on the floor of the break room at the scene of the murder. The knife extension was sticking out and covered in blood.

Also in the locker was a note Johnson had written with Riley and her boyfriend’s addresses, social security numbers, phone numbers and locker combinations.

They reviewed footage from Johnson’s home after the murder, that showed him in a quote “hurried state”. In the footage, he was wearing a hoodie that mostly covered his face.

The lead detective on the case was asked about Johnson’s first interview after he was brought in by the state troopers. They immediately noticed the scratches on his face. It also looked like he had cut his own hair and had done a "terrible job", according to the detective. He did not give an explanation for why he cut his hair.

Johnson told them that he went into the break room when he heard Riley screaming. It was then that he was attacked by somebody, but he couldn’t see who it was because the room was dark. All he could say about the attacker was that he was a quote “mysterious man with blue eyes with a gray tint”. When he was asked why he didn’t call the police about the mysterious attacker, he said that he was scared and that the man knew his address.

He said that as he ran out of the room, he slipped in the blood.

I was a little confused, as we were told that Johnson was changing by the dumpsters, but also that he went home to change. I believe he actually ran outside to the dumpster after stabbing Riley and hid there.

When he could get away without being seen, he fled from the store and drove home. While he was at home, he changed his clothes. He then got back in the car and began driving south. He eventually ditched the car and began walking.

The authorities found his car, which had obviously been cleared out in a hurry. The floor mats were missing, but he had left bloody tissues, bandages and disposable razors inside.

The evidence they collected has led detectives to conclude that Johnson is the only person who could be responsible for Riley’s murder.

On Wednesday, Sept 21, a judge announced that the evidence against Johnson is sufficient for the case to go to trial. His arraignment was scheduled for Nov. 15. The judge also denied bail.

At his November 15 arraignment, Johnson pleaded not guilty.

On June 30 2023, Johnson was found competent to stand trial for a second time, after his defense team requested an additional competency evaluation after rejecting the results of the first one. His bond was set at $10,000,000 cash.

His trial has been set for September 25, 2023.

Since Riley’s Murder

So far, no legal action has been taken against the managers of the store for failing to protect Riley from Johnson. However, the possibility of such actions being taken cannot be ruled out.

On June 23, 2022, a funeral service took place for Riley at Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs. Within days of her murder, a makeshift memorial was set up outside of the Walgreens, where her schoolmates and people from the community came to pay their respects.

I do recommend reading Riley’s obituary - while it’s of course impossible to condense a person’s entire life into a few paragraphs, Riley’s mother Courtenay writes beautifully about her daughter.

In May 2023, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed 'Riley's Law', the purpose of which is to protect the identities of underage crime victims and witnesses in reports to the public. The law will take effect next year.

You can find out more about the Riley Whitelaw Memorial Fund here.