Ocala — Sheriff’s investigators said they arrested a 45-year-old man Thursday after he confessed to strangling his girlfriend in their apartment.
James Curtis Johnston was held without bail at the Marion County Jail on Thursday and charged with killing Barbara Allison Campbell, 46, Wednesday.
Just before noon Thursday, Johnston walked into the Veterans Affairs clinic. Johnston said he needed to speak to a doctor because “he did something wrong” and harmed his girlfriend of six years, according to Marion County Sheriff’s Office reports.
Investigators then found Campbell’s body at the Greenfields apartment complex off Southeast 30th Place, authorities said.
Johnston told investigators that when he returned from a walk Wednesday afternoon, he found Campbell drinking. He said the two got into a heated argument and he strangled her, according to reports.
He then placed her body in the bed, changed her clothes and went to sleep, he told investigators.
The next morning, he took Campbell’s five cats to the county’s animal-control office to be euthanized, according to reports.
Sheriff’s officials said Thursday evening that they were continuing to collect evidence at the apartment.
