TV show offers updates on alleged shooter

Staten Island Advance/October 1, 2006
By Maura Yates

An hour and a half after fugitive shooter Rebekah Johnson casually withdrew $2,000 from a Manhattan bank last week, she used a Lower East Side pay phone to taunt her victim, Ganas commune founder Jeff Gross.

This and other details about the last sighting of the stalker who fired three bullets at Gross during a Memorial Day ambush outside the Corson Avenue commune were revealed last night during a new episode of "America's Most Wanted."

In a taped interview, a silhouetted woman whose identity was not revealed said Ms. Johnson called to ask her to deposit $1 million of Gross' money into an account. "A voice said, 'this is Becky,'" the woman said, adding Ms. Johnson gave her the account number and name of a bank for the transaction.

"I asked her, 'Why did you shoot Jeffrey?'" the woman said. Ms. Johnson replied, "I did no wrong. It didn't happen."

Ms. Johnson lived at Ganas between 1986 and 1989 and from 1994 to 1996 but was kicked out both times. Sources said Ms. Johnson has claimed she and Gross had a "sexual relationship" when she belonged to the commune, but Gross has denied that allegation.

Dozens of tips about Ms. Johnson's whereabouts poured in after the last episode aired, but even though the latest sighting was on Madison Avenue and 42nd Street, one of the busiest streets in Manhattan, she has continued to elude capture. Last night's update ended with host John Walsh speaking directly to Ms. Johnson:

"If you're listening, it's time to stop," he said. "Turn yourself in to the police. We don't want anybody else to get hurt, including you."

Police say Ms. Johnson is known to frequent the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Ms. Johnson, 43, is described as about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, white and 220 pounds. She has blue eyes and may have recently dyed her gray hair blonde.

Her last known address was 131 Jersey St., New Brighton. She has been known to drive a 1991 brown Ford Tempo (New York license tag ASJ4857); a 1988 blue Dodge Colt (AEC4723); a 1988 blue Oldsmobile Cutlass (AEC4722); a 1983 gray Audi 5000 (AAE2317), and a 1992 white Ford Escort (CVE4530).

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crimestopper's hotline at 800-577-TIPS or the North Shore's 120th Precinct station at 718-981-2714. The show's hotline is 1-800-CRIME-TV.