A Farmington woman does not want her sister to become a picture on a poster of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People. Monisha Black is speaking out asking for the public’s help to solve the Dec. 13 homicide of Brigitte Johnson.

“Being Navajo, your hear those stories of missing and murdered women. I think, ‘Could my sister be one of them?’ Those cases go cold, and I want this to be solved,” Black said, adding she and her family are cooperating with the police as much as they can.

Johnson, 34, was found dead by her mother shortly after 11. m. Dec. 13 in her home at 2809 Parque de Oeste No. 3. She always called to check in with her mother and had not called that morning, causing her mother to worry and go check for her daughter at home.

“It’s hard missing those calls,” Black said.

Black said the family did not know that Johnson had a gathering the previous night at her home. Farmington Police found out about the “large gathering of people” at a suspected party from witnesses questioned in relation to the homicide, according to Deputy Chief Kyle Dowdy.

“We don’t know how many people or how long it lasted,” he said.

Black had questioned the idea of a gathering, where drugs and alcohol may have been used, but she also stated that her sister “was a very private person,” who “had friends she never mentioned to us.”

Dowdy stated that police believe Johnson knew her attacker, and her case does not “appear to be a random crime to us.”

Despite this, police are “having trouble identifying the offenders,” Dowdy said.

“We have had the opportunity to talk to some friends and we’ve spoken to a couple of persons of interest,” Detective Lt. Shane Goodsell said. “We don’t have enough to call anyone a suspect at this time.”

“We’ve talked to people who were there throughout that night. It’s still a highly active investigation,” Dowdy said. “We are waiting for labs.”

The lack of answers led Black to reach out on social media as well as to the Tri-City Record. She wants justice for Johnson, but she also wanted to tell about her sister, who was 10 years her senior.

Johnson was a 2007 graduate of Farmington High School and a full-time employee at the East Main Safeway, where Black also works in the Deli. They saw each other every day at work. “She was really small and I would see her forehead above the shelf,” Black said.

“She was hard working and had a loving relationship with her friends and family,” Black said, adding that she was “fun and outgoing.”

Johnson loved to go “shopping and window browsing, and spending time” with her mother, Black said. “I can tell you she didn’t deserve what happened to her at all.”

Since Johnson’s death, Black said she feels like she is sitting staring out a window, “There’s storylines in your mind … I want answers from my sister.”

Farmington Police also would like answers. There were officers called to Johnson’s home at 4 a.m. in response to a noise complaint.

“Neighbors had heard arguing. It got loud enough to where they called it in,” said Goodsell, who is leading the investigation.

“Officers responded and attempted to make contact,” Goodsell said, adding the officers stayed at the location for about 20 minutes trying to contact someone. “Nobody answered the door … they walked away from that.”

“it’s not unusual for us to show up and the noises have stopped by the time we get there,” Dowdy said.

Black believes Johnson may have been killed at that time, and the suspect left in her sisters maroon-colored 4-door passenger car, driving away from the scene.

She mentioned Ring doorbell cameras and said, “I know that someone has something that might have captured this person driving the car.”

Goodsell said Johnson’s vehicle was seen leaving the residence not long after police were called to the home the first time. The vehicle was found at another location in San Juan County.

Police also have not located a murder weapon, Goodsell said.

Black said she will continue searching for an answer to her sisters death, saying she continually wonders who would do this. “I would like to them know my sister was stolen from us,” she said.