Dad of ex-con-turned-criminal justice activist arrested over head in freezer thought son was ‘reformed’
The father of a criminal justice activist charged with murder after a slew of body parts were found in a Bronx apartment told The Post Friday he was “shocked” to learn of his ex-con son’s arrest — because he thought he was reformed after a decades-long prison stint.
Sheldon Johnson Jr., 48, was slapped with a murder charge on Thursday after cops discovered the dismembered remains of 44-year-old Collin Small stashed in a freezer and blue bin inside the victim’s sixth-floor apartment, police said.
“I am surprised my son was arrested,” the alleged perp’s dad, Sheldon Johnson Sr. said. “I was shocked.”
“He learned and studied in prison for 26 years,” he continued. “He is a good man. He was doing work in a law office. There were no problems.”
The accused killer was busted after he was allegedly caught on surveillance video coming in and out of the victim’s apartment on Summit Avenue, near West 162nd Street, in different outfits — including a blond wig — in the hours before cops made the grisly discovery.
Officers had encountered Johnson Jr. at the apartment when they were responding to a welfare check after neighbors reported hearing gunshots and spotted the alleged perp hauling a blue bin inside, cops said.
A subsequent search of the property uncovered the victim’s decapitated head — with a bullet hole in it — stashed inside a black garbage bag in the freezer along with a severed arm, legs and foot, police said.
The victim’s torso and other foot were found stuffed in the blue bin, cops added.
Police haven’t yet disclosed the relationship between Johnson Jr. and the victim, but law enforcement sources told The Post they were lifelong friends.
Investigators are still probing what may have caused Johnson Jr. to allegedly snap, but are looking at whether he and the victim crossed paths at Sing Sing prison in Westchester County — and if they possibly had beef there, the sources said.
The accused killer and Small both also have lengthy rap sheets in New York and Pennsylvania, including multiple drug busts, records obtained by The Post show.
The two men, at one point, also shared the same alias — Timothy Gibbs — in Pennsylvania, per the sources.
The victim, who has a string of robbery and narcotics arrests to his name, was jailed in New York for murder in 2006 and was released on parole in 2017, prison records show.
Meanwhile, Johnson Jr., whose criminal record dates back to at least 1990, was released from state prison in 2019 after serving 20 years for a series of armed robberies in 1999, according to records.
In an interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Johnson — who claimed he was once a member of the Bloods gang — said he was arrested and sentenced to a maximum of 50 years for using a gun to rob several men who owed him money for drugs.
After spending some time in and out of solitary confinement, the felon said, he decided to “turn his life around” and got his GED in prison.
Johnson Jr. started working as a staffer at the public law firm Queens Defenders at some point after he was freed and became a well-known victims’ advocate — rubbing shoulders with VIPs like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“I still think he did a lot of good,” the alleged killer’s father, who is deaf, said.
“I think he threw his life away but I still love him,” he continued. “I don’t know what happened. I live in New Jersey, he lives in New York.”
“He didn’t talk enough with the family.”
Johnson Jr. has been charged with murder, manslaughter and weapon possession in Small’s slaying.
He was held without bail following his Bronx Criminal Court arraignment Thursday night.
