A person of interest has been charged with murder in connection to the death of Teresa Michael, according to a Thursday press release from the Bloomington Police Department.
Michael, a Monroe County school bus driver, was found unresponsive in her apartment on the night of Jan. 28, after a fire had broken out in her apartment building. The Monroe County coroner labeled her cause of death as strangulation, according to the press release.
BPD announced Eric Quentin Johnson as a person of interest in the investigation on Feb. 4, according to a report by the Indiana Daily Student. Johnson arrived in Indiana on March 3, during which he was sent to the Monroe County Jail on the charge of vehicle theft, according to the press release. Upon arrival, Johnson was also charged with the murder of Teresa Michael.
Following the announcement of Johnson as a person of interest, BPD discovered Johnson to be in the area of Waycross, Georgia, and BPD detectives traveled to Waycross on Feb. 9 to locate Johnson and Michael’s stolen vehicle, according to the press release.
According to the release, while on the way to Waycross, BPD detectives learned that Johnson was heading north to South Carolina on a bus. They contacted the Columbia Police Department, which detained Johnson once he arrived. Bloomington detectives then traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to interview Johnson Feb. 19, according to a report by WBIW, after which he was charged with vehicle theft and sent to Richland County Jail in South Carolina to await transport to Monroe County.