Johnia Hope Berry Remembered

Joan Berry on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, cut the ribbon to celebrate the grand opening of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's new regional office and crime laboratory for East Tennessee. This was a tremendous victory approximately two years after the passing of "Johnia Berry's DNA Act 2007". Part of the facility was named after Johnia Berry, murdered in Knoxville in 2004. The Berry family successfully lobbied for tougher DNA laws in Tennessee.

Joan Berry and her husband, Mike, helped push for greater funding for the TBI and its forensic work as they waited nearly three years for an answer in their daughter's, Johnia Hope Berry's, murder.

Knoxville News Sentinel

Governor Phil Bredesen signed a bill into law that requires anyone arrested for a violent crime to give a DNA sample. Named "The Johnia Berry Act of 2007", the new law requires DNA samples to be taken from persons booked for violent felonies after January 1, 2008.





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