Man pleads guilty to suffocating girlfriend in Mora hotel room

A man has pleaded to murder after he suffocated his girlfriend with a plastic bag inside a Mora hotel room in February.

Court records show 31-year-old Jackson Duce Johnson entered a guilty plea for one count of second-degree murder on Wednesday for the Feb. 11 death of 40-year-old Christeen Jo Massey.

A criminal complaint states officers found Massey’s body around 12:20 p.m. in a room at the AmericInn at 1877 Frontage Road in Mora. No one else was inside, but the window of the room was open with the screen pushed out. A set of barefoot tracks leading away from the building were seen directly below the second-floor window.

Kanabec County sheriff’s deputies tracked Johnson to a trailer park nearby and took him into custody after finding the body.

Johnson was originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder, and due to his history of domestic violence, a grand jury indicted him on one count of first-degree murder in June.

Johnson’s plea deal with the prosecution involves having the first-degree murder charge dropped in exchange for the maximum 40-year sentence for a second-degree murder conviction. A first-degree murder conviction would have carried an automatic life sentence without parole.

A sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 2.