Marlene Johnson North Carolina

Marlene Johnson is one of those women who are so obsessed with their men they go to unusual lengths to stay in his life, even when hes long gone. Marlene was married to Ervin Johnson but they had separated. Ervin worked at Tuscaro Yarns, as did another woman 62-year-old Shirley Goodnight Pierce. For reasons not yet discovered, Marlene Johnson decided the two were having an affair and took it upon herself to start a one-woman campaign of hate against Pierce. She stalked her, harassed her, attacked her and made her life a living hell for years. Restraining orders were filed over and over. Marlene was ordered to stay away from Shirley's home and place of employment. There is no evidence that suggests Shirley was having an affair with Ervin. Her own private investigators reported there was no reason to believe they were sleeping together but still she believed it.

Johnson is accused of beating and stabbing Shirley

Goodnight Pierce at her Kannapolis home on the morning of July 23, 2013. Investigators say she broke into her home and beat and stabbed her to death. Her fiance found her body in the bath t ub. She was riddled with stab wounds, the knife still stuck in her neck.

Marlene was immediately suspected and was found with incriminating evidence. She was arrested only 12 hours after Shirley's body was found.

When she learned the death penalty was on the table, she flung herself off her bunk in an attempt to break her neck but received only cuts and bruises. Her case was scheduled for court this year but documents were filed in February to postpone it due to lack of county resources.