On February 28, 2025, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office responded to a residence on Jammie Road in reference to a 911 call reporting an unresponsive female. Deputies arrived on scene and discovered the 29-year-old female victim was deceased.
The BCSO Criminal Investigation Division responded to the scene and began working the investigation to determine the cause of the death. The deceased victim was turned over to the 14th District Medical Examiner’s Office and the death was later ruled an overdose death from the substance GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid).
A search warrant was executed on April 25, 2025, on Johnson’s residence and investigators found illegal narcotics. Sterling Johnson was then arrested on charges of Trafficking in Methamphetamine More than 28 grams, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Resisting an Officer Without Violence. Sterling was taken to the Bay County Jail for those charges where he was held without bond because he was already out on bond for a 2024 charge of Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Over the next five months, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division conducted dozens of interviews and executed numerous search warrants. Investigators were able to prove the GHB substance the victim overdosed on came from Sterling Alan Johnson, age 37, of Bay County, Florida.
After the investigation into the overdose death was completed, the case was presented to the State Attorney’s Office. The decision was made to charge Sterling Johnson with one count of manslaughter for his actions in the overdose death of the 29-year-old victim.
On July 17, 2025, Sterling Johnson was charged with Manslaughter and received a one-million-dollar bond for that charge. Johnson is still incarcerated from charges received in April 2025 and is being held with no bond on those charges.
