GoFundMe account created in memory of slain correctional employee

LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Tenn. — A GoFundMe account has been created in memory of slain Tennessee Department of Correction employee Debra Johnson, who was found dead Wednesday in her home at West Tennessee State Penitentiary.

The account, which went online Friday morning, says all money donated to the GoFundMe will go toward increasing the reward for information leading to the arrest of Curtis Ray Watson, the man accused of killing Johnson.

Watson is believed to have escaped Wednesday morning from the prison facility in Lauderdale County after killing Johnson.

The GoFundMe, created by a nonprofit organization, says that if that reward money is not paid out, then the funds raised by the account will go back to Johnson’s family.

Johnson, 66, had worked for the Tennessee Department of Correction for 38 years. She began working for the state as a correctional officer in 1981, and later worked as a sergeant, deputy warden, and warden. She worked for the West Tennessee State Penitentiary as a correctional administrator at the time of her death.

She leaves behind two sons, a daughter, her mother, two sisters and a brother, according to the GoFundMe account.

More than $3,500 had been donated by 6 p.m. Friday. You can find the GoFundMe account here.