Johnathan Luna: Suicide or Conspiracy?

The American dream has a pull that reaches across the globe. Anything seems possible here. A single generation can turn a family’s fortunes with a college acceptance letter and some determination. As powerful as the dream is it tends to be overshadowed by conspiracy theories. While it’s hard to believe that members of our government are lizard people from outer space there are some theories that hold more water than others. A wealth of strange stories that just breed more theories as we try to answer the odd questions. When every possible answer creates more questions the public find themselves hopelessly hooked on the story. After a while the American dream starts to take on a different appearance.

While I confirmed some names, dates, and times with Wikipedia and WBALTV11 the vast amount of my information comes from True Crime Garage’s coverage of this case on Apple Podcasts. Check out episodes 572 and 573 to get Nic and the Captain’s take on this strange and turbulent story. With so many twists and turns, it was difficult to get a full, concise picture without their help.

Johnathan Paul Luna was born on October 21, 1965. Coming from humble beginnings, he was raised by his parents, Paul and Rosella Luna, in the Patterson Housing Projects in the Bronx, New York. His father was Filipino and his mother was black. While Paul worked as a gentleman waiter at a swanky restaurant, his mother stayed home to raise him and his brother. Growing up in New York, Johnathan would hold a deep love for the Yankees for the rest of his life.

Known for being a bookworm, he liked to while his away hours in a closet at home, reading. Though he was considered eccentric, he was also very well-liked throughout school. His friends all called him “Joey” as they were growing up. And Johnathan certainly did grow as he reached six-feet tall and developed a runner’s physique by high school. His sweet face, curly hair, and caring personality endeared him to everyone. As though he were leaning into his eccentricities, he started wearing suits and ties to school. For the rest of his life Johnathan would be known as a sharp dresser.

After earning his undergraduate at Fordham University, he went on to the University of North Carolina School of Law. While working to put himself through school, he also dedicated himself to earning his degree. He graduated as the president of his class in 1992. During his time in law school, Johnathan took a year off from his classes to take care of his father. Paul Luna had been diagnosed with cancer and fought through it bravely with his family at his side.

Once he earned his law degree Johnathan took a job working at a top D.C. law firm by the name of Arnold & Porter in 1993. He spent a year working there before deciding on a career in the public sector. Starting off at the Federal Trade Commission, he worked there from 1994 to 1997. He then served as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York before making his next career shift to the Baltimore U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland. Taking a job as a Federal Prosecutor was an exciting dream come true for the young attorney.

Lynn Battaglia was the Maryland US Attorney at the time he was brought on. She hired Johnathan and gave him his shot at the big leagues. Remembering his energetic, vivacious, and happy nature, she knew when she chose him for the job he would be eager to get to work. When he was interviewing for the job of a lifetime, he wasn’t afraid to show how much he wanted it. During the four years he worked for the US Attorney’s Office he prosecuted eighty criminal cases and six civil ones. Though many of these were drug cases, he saw his fair share of truly horrible ones as well. He successfully gained the conviction of a man who had been sexually abusing his seven-year-old daughter, seeing him sentenced to 120 months in prison for the sexual exploitation of a minor.

It was on a blind date that Johnathan met the woman he would spent the rest of his life with. Angela Hopkins struck him immediately as he found himself quickly falling in love. The two were married on August 29, 1993 and moved to Angela’s hometown of Elkridge, Maryland. He would later pay for his parents to move there from New York to be closer. He even helped to subsidize their new home once they got there. Angela and Johnathan would go on to have two boys together, completing their happy little family. It would seem that his life was the epitome of the American dream, having flipped his family’s fortunes around all on his own in less than ten years.

Just as he had been well-liked throughout school, Johnathan enjoyed a certain amount of popularity around the office as well. He was a friendly, likable person with an upbeat personality and a good sense of professionalism. The dedication he showed to his job didn't go unnoticed, either. Everyone that met him, even the defense attorney he was up against at the time of his death, considered him a good man. Johnathan continued running the marathons that had gifted him with his physique. He also took great joy in organizing the office softball games every year and throwing dinner parties for his friends. Such a kindhearted and good-natured person surely had a long life of helping others ahead of him, right?

With a beautiful family, an impressive career, and everything going for him those around him saw nothing but the best in his future. In November 2003 he joined the Barristers Club, which is a fraternity for judges and attorneys. Everything was looking up when Johnathan was handed one of the biggest cases of his career. A violent heroin ring run from the music studio of a Baltimore rapper.

By December 3, 2003 the trial was already on day three. Though he had already prosecuted drug dealers, counterfeiters, child pornographers, and more this looked to be the biggest case of his career so far. Leaving the courthouse at 6:00 that evening, Johnathan went home to his loving family for dinner. His oldest son was five at the time and his youngest, just ten months old. As the family ate, Johnathan told his wife that he would need to return to the office when they were finished. He needed to prepare a plea agreement for court the next morning. At 8:48 that evening he left his house to return to his office at the Federal Courthouse. This was just a ten minute drive from his home in Elkridge.

At 5:00 on the morning of December 4 an employee of a drilling company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania arrived at work ready to begin his day as normal. He parked his truck at the front of the building and walked inside to get some coffee and get started on work. Shortly after he walked back outside to fill the company’s trucks with gas for the day. It while he was filling tanks that he noticed a red light standing out of the darkness like a beacon calling for help. A coworker arrived and joined him to investigate the light’s origin. Walking up to a 2003 Honda Accord with its engine running and its headlights off, the men thought they were witnessing the site of a car crash. The car was sitting seventy-five feet off the road with its front wheels resting on the embankment of a creek. The red light that had summoned them there turned out to be an indicator light on the dashboard.

The two good Samaritans checked inside the car to make sure someone wasn’t in need of help. They found no one inside, but saw what appeared to be blood in the front seat. Immediately they called 911, telling dispatch that they hadn’t seen the car’s driver anywhere. All the way out in peaceful, quiet Amish country, the township police hadn’t opened their office for the day yet. It was the state police that would respond to the call.

It didn’t take long for police to find the car’s driver. He was right in front of the car, almost up under the front wheels. Having suffered multiple stab wounds, he was lying facedown in the creek. From the outset this case was considered an obvious homicide. The car’s tags immediately caught the officers’ attention. How did a man from Maryland end up lying dead in a Lancaster creek?

Meanwhile a hundred miles away, Johnathan was due to appear in court at 9:30 that morning with his plea agreement ready to present. When he failed to show up alarm bells instantly went off. This was not like the dedicated attorney they all knew and loved. Word of the Maryland man and his Honda Accord discovered in Pennsylvania quickly made its way back to Baltimore. It didn’t take long for the man to be identified as Johnathan Luna.

How he came to be one hundred miles from home is still a mystery. What brought him out of the house that night continues to remain unknown. Why would anyone want such a likable and upstanding man dead? What follows is a truly confounding case and a questionable investigation.

Using the EZPass transponder on his car, investigators put together a timeline that only creates questions rather than answers them. His movements are erratic, making no sense to anyone trying to figure out what was going on that night. The only conclusion that makes sense to most is that at some point he was abducted, either being driven, or being forced to drive his car all the way to Pennsylvania.

Johnathan’s death came as a shock to everyone. His boss, Joseph Evans, stood on the steps in front of the Federal Courthouse and gave a press conference that was clearly meant to rattle the perpetrator. With local and state police, US Marshals, ATF, and the FBI working side-by-side this case would be solved, he swore. On the day of his funeral more than a thousand mourners showed an outpouring of love for the lost thirty-eight-year-old attorney and support for his family.

Since Johnathan was a federal employee the FBI took the lead on the probe into his suspicious death. A Baltimore field agent named Jennifer Love handled the case, making a plea to the public early on for information. His computer files, emails, financial records, phone logs, PalmPilot information, past trials, and prosecutions were all thoroughly combed through. His friends, family members, and colleagues were interviewed with the hope that they knew something helpful. As Johnathan’s career didn’t allow him to disclose information on the cases he was working there was nothing they could provide on his job. His picture was shown at every Lancaster motel and gas station as guest logs and surveillance footage was checked. Nothing of use was found. The only real evidence they had was his car.

Not only was there physical evidence inside the vehicle there was also the EZPass transponder data to look at. While this gave investigators the opportunity to retrace his steps so-to-speak, it didn’t answer a single question about why he went out that night, what he was doing, or if he met up with anyone at any point. Johnathan’s EZPass allowed him to make automated payments at the toll booths he came across on his day-to-day route. Security footage from the toll booths he drove through were checked as well as his credit card and ATM records. They wanted to know exactly where his cards had been used to further fill in the mostly blacked out picture of his night.

Investigators first looked at the case he was working on at the time of his death. It seemed reasonable to think that the very people he was prosecuting were responsible. The fact that one of the men on trial was also charged with murder only made it seem more likely. Though no one could’ve seen his life coming to such a gruesome and early end, his job did come with a certain amount of risk. The people he worked towards putting away were dangerous, terrible individuals. Even if their initial suspects weren’t responsible it was always possible that someone else he’d seen convicted was.

Johnathan’s Honda Accord left tracks leading from the road to it’s resting point in the muddy embankment by the creek. The doors were closed and the headlights were off as the engine idled. A large pool of blood gathered on the floor behind the passenger’s seat. Investigators also found $200 cash and what they termed cell phone equipment inside the car, likely a charger. Blood was smeared on the outside of the driver’s side door as well as the left front fender. It was evident to anyone looking that Johnathan had suffered the majority of his wounds inside the car. The blood was tested, and while some reports have stated that a second person’s DNA was found this has never been substantiated.

While investigators were looking at the evidence found in the car they were also taking notice of what wasn’t there, or on Johnathan’s person. His glasses and the cell phone he regularly used for work would later be found still sitting at his office. This small piece of circumstantial evidence has led many to believe that he could’ve been abducted from his office. While security footage from the Federal Courthouse was checked it wasn’t helpful at all. Surveillance cameras in the early 2000’s were less than reliable, providing grainy footage with a tendency to clip from one frame to the next. The fact that Maryland’s Federal Courthouse had very lax security at the time didn’t help matters any. Johnathan wasn’t seen on any of the footage that was reviewed. If he was taken from his office by force then we will never have visual proof of it.

Once his timeline was assembled investigators realized they had a marathon of their own to run just to piece his night together. His evening started normally enough when he left his house at 8:48 that evening. Having just finished dinner with his family, he was on his way back to the office to prepare a plea agreement in the case of the Baltimore rapper and his heroin ring. There were two men standing trial in this case and before Johnathan left his office he would speak to both of their attorneys. The first he granted a courtesy call at 9:06 that night, letting him know that he would be going home to finish work on the agreement. He promised to have the completed document faxed to both attorneys as soon as it was done. He tried to call the other lawyer, reaching his voicemail and leaving a message at 9:30 that made the same promise. At 10:30 he spoke with one of these attorneys again to confirm that the documents would be faxed to them both before midnight.

Shortly after making his first call, Johnathan gathered up his work and went back home. He was determined to finish that agreement and have it faxed by the midnight deadline he’d given himself. At 11:00 that night he received a call that sent him back out to his office. Though he told his wife where he was going, he never mentioned who called. To this day the origin of that phone call remains another mystery in this inexplicable case.

We know that he made it back to the Federal Courthouse as building records show his Honda entering the parking garage. The car remained there until 11:38, when he, or someone else, drove away from the garage. There is no way to know if he drove himself away from his office, or if someone else had control of the vehicle. At 11:49 his car passed through the Fort McHenry Tunnel Toll Plaza as it continued north on Interstate 95. Until 12:28, when the car passes through the Perryville Toll Plaza, Johnathan is completely unaccounted for. Continuing northward, he went through the Delaware Line Toll Plaza at 12:46. Security footage was reviewed at all of the toll booths his car drove through, but still no confirmation on who was driving the car was ever seen.

At 12:57 his debit card was used to withdraw $200 from an ATM at the JFK Plaza in Newark, Delaware. There was no footage whatsoever to prove whether Johnathan used his card, or someone else. For nearly two hours after his debit card was used his movements go dark again. His trail remained cold until it suddenly picked back up at the Pennsylvania Turnpike, taking him over the Delaware Bridge. Once he started going through the New Jersey and Pennsylvania turnpikes the EZPass transponder was no longer being used. This could be due to a proximity limit on the transponder, though.

His debit card was used at 3:20 that morning to buy gas at a Sunoco gas station located at the King of Prussia Service Plaza in Pennsylvania. Sales records show that Johnathan paid at the pump for his own gas and then paid for someone else’s, too. The gas station had no security cameras so there’s no way to know who he bought the other tank of gas for. Later the FBI would attempt to downplay this second purchase as though it meant nothing at all to the investigation.

An unlikely sighting occurs at the Peter J. Cameil Service Plaza at 3:30. Johnathan is said to have bought a bottled water at this location, but there is no record of his debit card being used there. Though he could’ve paid with cash, he couldn’t have made the drive to that location in just ten minutes. The Peter J. Cameil Plaza is too far from King of Prussia to make that drive even at top speeds. What’s more likely is that someone who truly wanted to help thought they saw him that morning, but was mistaken.

Johnathan’s car gets off the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Exit 286, the Reading/Lancaster Interchange at 4:04. A paper toll ticket smeared with blood was turned over to the toll collector at this booth. When the blood was tested it was a positive match for Johnathan Luna.

Exit 286 leads right onto a well-lit road with motels and all-night gas stations lining the busy street. Every single one received a visit from an agent. No one recognized Johnathan’s picture. That well-traveled road becomes darker and darker as it stretches all the way down to Amish Country. The residents of the Brecknock Township are as far from city folk as one can imagine with their strict Amish beliefs and customs. Finding Johnathan and his car so far from home in an Amish community was almost as confusing as the route he’d taken to get there. If one were trying to travel from Baltimore to Brecknock Township a much quicker and straight-forward route could’ve been taken, but for some odd reason it wasn’t.

His car pulled into a parking lot at 4:05, and then right up to the creek off Dry Tavern Road that he would later be found in. Investigators believe that he was still alive when his car made its final stop, but no one knows what transpired after. At 5:30 his body was discovered, riddled with stab wounds and lying facedown in the creek’s shallow edge.

There are two major gaps in the timeline that concerned investigators the most. If his whereabouts at these times could be ascertained it’s possible his murder could be solved. The first gap occurs between the time that his debit card is used at the JFK Plaza in Newark, Delaware at 12:57, and the time he turns onto the New Jersey Turnpike at 2:37. This drive should’ve only taken forty minutes to make, but for some reason it takes him nearly two hours. During that time no one knows where he went, or what occurred. The next gap occurs as he exits the Pennsylvania Turnpike at 4:04. Until his body is discovered it’s unknown what happened or who was with him.

Angela reported her husband missing later that night. While it wasn’t uncommon for him to be called away at random it wasn’t like him to not answer his phone or come home. As her calls continued to go unanswered she became increasingly fretful at his silence. Little did she know her husband was on a wild and incomprehensible ride as his cell phone sat on his desk at the Federal Courthouse.

To this day, more than twenty years later, Johnathan’s autopsy report has never been released to the public. The only information we have on his remains comes from the Lancaster County coroner at the time, Dr. Barry Walp. While employed as the county coroner, Dr. Walp also worked as a family doctor in the community. He was present when the forensic pathologist performed the autopsy, observing every minute and every piece of evidence. Though the pathologist has declined to comment on the autopsy, Dr. Walp has publicly talked about what he witnessed.

According to the good doctor, Johnathan was fully clothed in his business suit, shirt, tie, socks, shoes, and overcoat when he was found. His wedding ring was still on his finger and his work identification badge was around his neck. Neither his wallet or phone was found in his pockets. While his phone was back at his office, his wallet was found inside the car. Though he had suffered a total of thirty-six stab wounds to the neck and chest, his cause of death was drowning. He was still breathing when he landed facedown in that creek. The majority of his injuries had been to his neck, though all thirty-six wounds varied in depth. While some were more shallow pricks others were deep, serious stab wounds.

While the FBI has concocted their own idea about the wounds he suffered, Dr. Walp holds a much different opinion. He believes that the “prick marks” he witnessed had been made in an attempt at getting information. It’s his belief that Johnathan was tortured inside his vehicle for facts that he may or may not have been privy to. Another more terrifying theory he’s considered is that whoever committed this crime did it for fun. Some of Johnathan’s stab wounds go as deep as four inches. One in particular severed his carotid artery, which would’ve caused him to bleed out in just minutes. But before this fatal injury could end his life he was put into the creek, causing his lungs to fill with water with his final breaths. Though it was the water that killed him, he wouldn’t have stood a chance anyway.

Congealed blood found on his body led investigators to surmise that he had been lying in that position for some time before his discovery. The police affidavit cited head trauma, but Dr. Walp later corrected it. Johnathan had suffered a wound to his head, likely from falling or being dropped in the creek, but it wasn’t serious. There were no defensive wounds to speak of, but there were cuts on his hands and a fingernail mark near his wrist.

It’s worth repeating that Johnathan’s autopsy results have never been made public. All of this information comes from Dr. Walp’s recollection of witnessing the procedure. There is no way for us to confirm what he saw. While he may have been totally truthful the entire time there’s always the possibility that he was pushing false beliefs on the public. Without the release of this report there’s no way to separate the truth from fiction.

Since the events of his final day had revolved around the case of the Baltimore rapper and his heroin ring that was the first place investigators thought to look for a suspect. Knowing how violent of an operation they had run certain precautions were also taken. Johnathan’s family was placed under protection as was the co-prosecutor on the case. Judge Lynn Battaglia, who had hired Johnathan when she was still serving as a US attorney in Maryland, was convinced that his death was tied directly to his job. This was the thought, and the fear creeping into the back of everyone’s mind at the time.

The two men standing charged in that case were securely behind bars at the time of his death. Though no one expected them to have killed Johnathan themselves, they thought one or both of the men could’ve arranged a hit from their cells. The problem here was the sweetheart deal that Johnathan was working on for them at the time of his death. The plea agreement that he had been working so hard on that night strongly favored the two defendants. Johnathan had even been the one to offer up the deal. These men were facing some heinous charges and this bargain that he seemed to be striking with the devil would drop some of the more serious ones. Their attorneys strongly defended their innocence as the men had nothing to gain from Johnathan’s death. Only plenty to lose if something were to happen to him.

It would later come out that the witness in the heroin case was an FBI informant. It would’ve been his testimony that sealed the conviction had it not been for his behavior. While working for the FBI and wearing an ankle monitor, he was slipping out of his monitor as he continued selling drugs and participating in violence like nothing had changed. This starts to make it appear as though this man has incentive to testify, which becomes an issue for the prosecution. As the FBI is taking care of this man, he’s continuing his day-to-day life of crime as though he were invincible. The prosecution team, including Johnathan, was aware of this, which likely led to the sweetheart deal that he should’ve placed on the table on December 4. The witness’s behavior wasn’t disclosed to the defense as it should’ve been, leading to the dropping of some pretty serious charges. It’s fair to say that the ball was dropped pretty hard in this case.

The FBI came to the conclusion that his death had nothing to do with the case he was working. They went a step further by declaring that they didn’t believe it to be tied to his job at all. With that said they began digging into his personal life for clues. Having slammed the door shut on his career as an investigative path they began talking to everyone Johnathan knew. His father, Paul Luna, gave a three-hour-long interview from his apartment in Columbia. He was eighty-three years old and struggling with the sudden and suspicious death of his son. To the best of his ability he answered questions about his son’s financial standing and whether or not he may have a girlfriend, or even a boyfriend, unknown to his wife. The rumors and allegations that arose from the rubble of Johnathan’s personal life caused his family to retreat into the shadows, refusing to publicly speak on the case ever again.

In February 2004, FBI Assistant Director Cassandra Chandler announced that the bureau was looking into more then six hundred leads. With so many leads to follow, she stated that it had become necessary to examine his personal life for answers. This didn’t seem to stop the rumor mill, or the conspiracy theories, though.

According to reporting by the Baltimore Sun, the excellence Johnathan displayed in his career was just a thin veneer. His hiring boss had moved on to bigger and better things as Joseph Evans stepped into her shoes. Though he has denied it, it would seem as though Joseph didn’t like him as much as his previous boss had. Through the whispers that Johnathan was performing poorly at work his boss was calling him a good employee, saying that he did his job well. It would later be very quietly confirmed that Johnathan wasn’t doing so well at work after all.

Rumors and speculation quickly churned the murky waters of the investigation until all sense was lost. The conflicting accounts of his work performance and the relationship between he and his boss weren’t exactly helping agents along, either. While Joseph claimed that all was well with Johnathan and he liked the young attorney just fine, others were privately telling a different story. There were some that went as far as to say that he didn’t like Johnathan one bit.

Three legal sources that spoke with the Baltimore Sun revealed that Johnathan had not been acting like himself leading up to his death. He seemed to be distracted and disorganized to the point that those around him took notice. On December 3, the very day he would disappear from the courthouse and into Amish country, he was late for court. He explained that he had been stuck at the hospital with his son until late the night before, but no records of either of his sons visiting a hospital in that area could be found. He received a $25 fine for his tardiness and the trial moved on.

While the rumors of his poor performance at work were confirmed as true, hints that he was planning on leaving the US Attorney’s Office surfaced. Though we can’t know the ins-and-outs of the cases he was working, we can know that whatever he was doing it wasn’t up to the office’s standards. These confirmations were all made in whispers as though those making them didn’t wish to offend the dead.

The FBI was particularly interested in finding out if Johnathan had any debt as this can make for a good motive for murder, or suicide. They found that he was in debt for $25,000, which may seem like a lot to those of us living hand-to-mouth, but probably not so much for a family like their’s. Johnathan was working for the US Attorney’s Office while his wife was working as an obstetrician. Having only just started their family and their lives together, the couple had two young sons, a mortgage, and two brand new cars in the driveway. They had also paid for his parent’s move from New York and were helping to subsidize their new home. This was likely added to by student loan debt, which tends to hang around the necks of college graduates for years to come.

Piling onto the debt were the sixteen credit cards in Johnathan’s name. It’s not certain if his wife was aware of all of them. Friends of his would later say that he never seemed to be in need of money. Of course this is an easy illusion to maintain with sixteen credit cards in your wallet.

His debt would become a focal point to the media when they realized he had recently been suspected of being involved in a theft. The fact that it was being looked into at the time of his death only stoked speculations. In September 2002 he had been working on a big case. The defendant was facing charges for a rash of bank robberies. During the trial a total of $36,000 was presented to the court as evidence. Johnathan would go on to win a conviction, sending the bank robber to prison. Shortly after his big win the evidence just walked out the door.

The evidence had been shrink wrapped into stacks of ten and twenty dollar bills. While sitting unattended on a cart in the busy hallway of the Federal Courthouse it disappeared. That is the story of the prosecution team that had access to it. While Johnathan was suspected in the theft, so were all the other members of that team. There was no other reason for suspicion than the fact that they had access. There were no other red flags standing out for any one of them. It was equally possible that anyone else inside the courthouse that day took it.

A handcart was used to transport the money from one part of the federal building to the other. As the courthouse was open and operating at the time, it was filled with people walking the hallways. Though it was reasonable to start the investigation with those who had access, it was also possible that literally anyone else stole that money. Johnathan was said to have been very concerned about the theft as it happened on his watch. Joseph knew of his concern and didn’t share it. He didn’t think Johnathan capable of involvement. He said that money was sometimes left unsupervised, leaving ample opportunity for theft. Another example of the lax security of the early 2000’s.

By the time Johnathan was killed at least five government employees had already taken polygraph tests concerning the theft. Johnathan had also been scheduled to take one, but had to postpone. He would never get the chance to take it. After taking his own polygraph, a colleague spoke with Johnathan, who showed no concern whatsoever about his upcoming appointment. He said that Johnathan seemed more than willing to participate. Though many have speculated about his reasons for postponing his polygraph it wasn’t uncommon in his career for a last minute phone call to change all of his plans. Some reports have stated that the rescheduled test was supposed to take place shortly after his death, but there is no confirmation of that. Just another sub-par piece of circumstantial evidence that takes on new light when handled by the media.

It would be found that Johnathan had applied for a $30,000 loan in September 2002. Not long after the money went missing from the courthouse he cancelled that loan. He also received $10,000 from an unknown source soon after the theft. No one came forward to say that they had given or lent him any money. The generous benefactor remains a mystery. Oddly enough no one seems to have considered the possibility that Johnathan had witnessed the theft. The mysterious $10,000 he received very well could’ve been hush money. This could also be a very good motive for murder.

An unnamed law enforcement source for the Baltimore Sun revealed the shocking amount of porn uncovered on his justice department computers. All of it was adult porn, and none of it was tied to any of the cases he’d been working on. Digging a little deeper into the seedier side of his personality they discovered that his named had been used on an online dating site in April 1997. Six years before Johnathan would meet his tragic and suspicious end a dating profile matching his description was made, but no one knows if it was really Johnathan who made it. Whoever wrote the messages described themselves as being a 31-year-old black man, married, and looking for white female sexual partner. While the vague description sounds just like him there’s no way of knowing if someone else did this, or why.

In February 2004 CBS News reported that the FBI had a prime suspect in their investigation. A female FBI agent working out of the Baltimore field office was claimed to be suspect number one in the case. The assistant director vehemently denied this report, stating that they had no suspects, and certainly not any from their own office.

Shortly after this denial the bureau lodged an internal investigation. This stemmed from a complaint filed by a female agent who was aggressively interrogated by fellow agents. This unnamed woman had worked very closely with Johnathan on a multitude of cases and it was believed that a romance had blossomed at some point. Whether or not this is true is still up for debate. While it’s possible two people spending long hours together on a regular basis would eventually become involved, no one knows for sure if that was the case. Infuriated with the way she was treated by her own co-workers, she filed a complaint citing the hostel interview the search of her computers without consent. Though there have been some reports about at least two affairs conducted by Johnathan, there is no proof to substantiate them.

In the weeks leading up to his death, Johnathan made at least two oddly explained trips to Pennsylvania. As this was where his body would later be found these trips seem especially strange. They traveled the route that he took to Pennsylvania on these excursions, checking with every motel and gas station along the way. Their investigation down this path revealed frequent trips there leading up to his death. Much like everything else in this case, the reason is completely unknown.

An employee of a Sunoco gas station on the Pennsylvania Turnpike recalled seeing Johnathan regularly during her midnight shifts. About once a month for six months he would come to the store and buy gas on a credit card and a cup of coffee using cash. Johnathan was an easy customer for her remember. He always dressed nicely in suits and ties. He was also very friendly, making small talk with the employee on every visit. Though Johnathan told his father these trips were work-related, he had never worked a case for the US Attorney’s Office that would’ve carried him all the way to Pennsylvania. When his job failed to turn up an answer for these trips agents looked into the possibility that he was meeting up with someone. Nothing was ever found to prove he was meeting with anyone.

While the FBI maintains that they don’t know the reason for these trips a perfectly sound answer lies out in the open for all to see. The FBI informant in the case Johnathan was working when he died lived in Philadelphia. These trips very well could’ve been work-related after all, but there’s no way to know for sure.

Three months after his death, in March 2004, a $100,000 reward is offered for information that could close the case. Investigators admitted that they were having a hard time determining whether this was a murder or a suicide. One theory that seemed to gain traction was that Johnathan had been attempting to stage a scene in those early morning hours, but it all went terribly wrong. This theory states that under an immense amount of financial pressure added to by the recent probe into the stolen money, he tried to garner sympathy by staging a kidnapping or an attack. Maybe he thought he could buy himself some time, or even wiggle out of the investigation’s cross hairs altogether. Considering the amount of stab wounds he sustained this seems like a rather wild theory.

On December 2, 2004, the FBI released a statement in the case. They had come to the conclusion that he had been alone for the entirety of that night. Even through the huge gaps in his timeline, the severe lack of eyewitnesses, and the unusable surveillance footage they had come to this unlikely determination. To this day they have remained steadfastly certain that no one accompanied him that night. On the ten-year anniversary of his death they doubled down on that statement, saying they never found anything to suggest that he was with anyone after leaving the courthouse.

Though his autopsy results have never been made public, we do know for certain that the pathologist ruled his death a homicide. He knew what the FBI was hinting at and he didn’t believe it for a second. If Johnathan committed suicide then who carried off the weapon? The pen knife that is believed to have been used in his murder was discovered upon re-canvassing of the area. It was found too far from the body to think that he disposed of it himself. A pocket knife was also found earlier on in the investigation, but it’s thought that this was the knife he was known to carry for protection. At one point the FBI attempted to get the pathologist to change his ruling from homicide to suicide. He flat refused, maintaining that he didn’t believe Johnathan’s death to be suicide.

In January 2007 Johnathan’s parents formally requested an inquest into their son’s death. The request was denied, but that didn’t stop them in their quest to learn the truth. They hired a private investigator by the name of Ed Martino. Ed dug into the case, coming back to one conclusion time and again. He believed that Johnathan died as a result of work he had been doing with the FBI. It’s his firm belief that the bureau shut the investigation into his death down because of this reason. The reason for this conclusion is as unknown as the rest of this case, but Ed seems to have found another angle on this story that no one ever knew of regardless.

As far as the FBI’s investigation, it seems to have stopped completely once they declared him to have been alone on the morning of his death. If any further work has been done it has been kept very far under the radar. Ed Martino believes the bureau was simply trying to control the narrative. It would seem that way when you consider their final statement along with the fact that they tried to get the pathologist to change his ruling.

A very interesting theory was floated on True Crime Garage’s episodes on this case. Though the FBI claims to know that he was alone that night, insinuating suicide, they have kept the case open. The theory was floated that they have kept the case open to enable them to keep everything on it under wraps. Under the guise of an open investigation they have managed to keep from releasing the autopsy or any other information they’ve collected. After so many years with no definite answers most would’ve started releasing facts in the hopes that it may jar someone’s memory. In twenty years that hasn’t been done yet.

In 2009 author William Keesling was writing a book on the case. Like any serious true crime writer trying to compile a good book, he asked to see the official autopsy report. His request was denied in a letter from the assistant district attorney. Due to an open federal grand jury investigation that report could not be released. There are no other details on this probe, which is completely normal considering how private these kinds of investigations are.

And with all of these twists, turns, and odd, unanswered questions we come to the end of our mystery. Nothing else is known about this case and the precious little that is known is completely uncertain. While there are probably some that subscribe to the FBI’s theory of suicide, there are many more that believe this to be foul play. People don’t choose the most torturous way to kill themselves when they come that tragic decision. The argument has been made that the evidence for suicide, or even an attempt at a staged scene, lies in the stab wounds. While some went as deep as four inches, others were just pricks into the skin. It’s been said that these pricks were hesitation marks.

Johnathan Luna had lived the American dream. If you ask Ed Martino it was that dream that ended up killing him. Though he may have had some things going on shortly before his death, he had been a dedicated attorney and a loving husband, father, and son in his life. The suspicious end to his life left the people that loved him most wanting for information that would never come. As the years tick by maybe the truth will finally come out. As government employees of Johnathan’s day retire and younger blood takes over the answers have the potential of being found one day. As long as the case remains open there will always be conspiracy theories lobbed at the FBI for his death, though.