A man who became a public advocate for criminal justice reform after his release last year was arrested on murder charges Thursday after police said they found human body parts inside a New York City home.
Sheldon Johnson, 48, was jailed without bail on Friday morning on charges including second-degree murder, according to online records from the New York City Department of Corrections.
The relationship between the victim and Mr. Johnson was not immediately known, but New York City police identified the victim as 44-year-old Colin Small.
New York City police told USA TODAY that Johnson also faces charges of manslaughter and weapons possession.
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Body parts found in freezer during welfare check
Police said officers came to Small's Bronx home Tuesday night to conduct a welfare check and found a headless torso inside the apartment.
Responding paramedics pronounced the victim dead at the scene, and authorities later identified the victim as Small.
Police said the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine Small's cause of death.
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Colin Small was reportedly shot to death and mutilated.
According to CBS New York, police said Johnson shot and killed Small and dismembered his body.
“A search of Johnson's Harlem apartment found the remaining body parts, an arm and a head, in a freezer,” the newspaper reported.
According to the New York Daily News, Johnson yelled, “I'm innocent” as he was led out of the police station after his arrest.
Sheldon Johnson appears on 'The Joe Rogan Experience'
Johnson, who works with at-risk youth at New York's Queens Defenders, co-authored a book with Josh Dubin, a civil rights attorney and executive director of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice, in February. – Appeared in an episode of The Logan Experience.
In the episode, Johnson said she grew up in Harlem and lived in a household that was completely deaf.
At the time of the podcast, Johnson spoke to Rogan about his advocacy work nine months after leaving prison. He said he went to prison as a Bloods executive after being arrested for drug sales and assault, but then severed ties with the gang around 2005.
“I really said, “I have to change my life. I have to change my life. I can't do that,'' Johnson said on the podcast. “I had a wife, I had kids, I still had a family, my son was growing up. He had heard stories about my so-called notoriety. I just didn't want to be that father. Tanda.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Logan's publicist.
Sheldon Johnson previously served time for attempted murder and robbery.
New York Department of Corrections records show Mr. Johnson was convicted in 1999 of attempted murder, robbery and other charges.
Records show he was released from an upstate prison on May 4 after spending 25 years behind bars.
It was not immediately known whether Mr. Johnson had hired an attorney for the new charges.
Records show Johnson is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
