DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160476

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH AND CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITERS 

                                            LENGTH:   52 lines

POLICE DISPEL RUMOR THAT LINKS SLAYINGS WOMAN'S DEATH SUNDAY IS UNRELATED TO A 1993 NAGS HEAD CASE, THEY SAY.

Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills police said Tuesday that there was no connection between Denise Johnson's death Sunday and the unsolved 1993 murder of Janet Siclari.

Nags Head Police Chief Charles Cameron issued a prepared statement to quiet speculation that the two deaths were related.

Johnson's body was found by firefighters called to a fire at her Norfolk Street residence in the predawn hours Sunday.

``Chief Cameron makes this announcement to dispel any concerns that the person or persons responsible for the Janet Siclari homicide would be the same person or persons responsible for the homicide of Denise F. Johnson,'' the statement said.

Kill Devil Hills Police Chief Ray Davis echoed the Nags Head department's release.

``We don't have any information that relates to any other crime at all,'' Davis said.

Siclari, a 35-year-old North Arlington, N.J., resident, was last seen by her brother at the Carolinian Hotel in Nags Head about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 28, 1993. Her partially clad body was found about four hours later, slumped by the sand dunes near the hotel. Her throat had been slashed. The killing has not yet been solved.

Meanwhile, investigators from Kill Devil Hills and the State Bureau of Investigation continued checking into Johnson's death. State medical examiners in Greenville provided police with a preliminary cause of death, but a full autopsy report will not be finished for a few weeks. Police declined to release any details.

Investigators also returned to the gray cottage on Norfolk Street that Johnson shared with a housemate.

Johnson left her job at the Barrier Island Inn in Duck at about 11 p.m. Saturday and stopped at a convenience store in the Avalon area. She was last seen about 1:10 a.m. with a blond woman, about 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall. Police believe she can provide some information that could lead them to Johnson's killer.

Funeral services are scheduled for 3 p.m. today at Kitty Hawk United Methodist Church. The family suggests that donations be made to the Dare County SPCA. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

File photo

Police officials are continuing their investigation into the death

of Denise Johnson. She was found dead in her burning house early

Sunday. Arson is suspected. KEYWORDS: MURDER ARSON

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