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Family relives pain of murder all over again

Edward Johnson admitted to killing 22-year-old Brooke Thompson in 2002. Sixteen years later, the Thompson family is reliving their pain after Johnson became a suspect in the homicide of a corrections officer.

MINNEAPOLIS - The worst day of Lori Thompson's life came during the summer of 2002, when she learned her 22-year-old daughter had been murdered by a male roommate.

The roommate's name was Edward Muhammad Johnson. Lori's daughter, Brooke, had been friends with Johnson, but she said he'd become obsessed with her and grew angry that she did not feel the same way about him.

Johnson admitted to stabbing Brooke Thompson 13 times in their Bloomington apartment, pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

"There's a hole in my heart," Thompson said, "that will never heal."

Lori Thompson has tried her best to bury the horrid memories of 2002.

Then she learned the news from Stillwater State Prison on Wednesday.

Her daughter's killer had become the main suspect in another homicide. This time, it was a fatal attack on corrections Officer Joseph Gomm, a 16-year veteran in the Department of Corrections.

"I just relived everything. All over again," Thompson said. "I share (the family's) grief. My heart breaks for them."

Another member of Lori Thompson's family is suffering, too. Lori's granddaughter -- Brooke's daughter -- is now 21 years old, but at the time of the murder in 2002 she was five years old.

She was in the other room of the apartment and heard the murder with her own ears.

"Oh, she's devastated too," Thompson said. "What a horrible person, just pure evil."

Johnson has not been charged yet, but the county attorney said Thursday his office will move aggressively as law enforcement continues to gather evidence.

According to the Department of Corrections, Johnson's anticipated release date was 2022. If he faces new murder charges in Washington County, that would obviously change.

Killing a law enforcement officer is a first-degree felony, which would carry a life sentence.

Some day, Thompson said she would like to reach out to the Gomm family.

"I would just want to comfort them the best I could. Tell them I'm here if they need to talk," Thompson said. "We're both victims of the same awful person."

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