Former Burnet Countian missing for a year

A South Texas sheriff's department is investigating the apparent disappearance of an oilfield worker with Marble Falls and Spicewood ties who was first reported missing late last year.

The La Salle County Sheriff's Office, located in Cotulla, said John Michael Johnson Jr., 37, has not contacted loved ones in more than a year, according to La Salle County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Marc Robertson.

Johnson was employed in the past by Diamond X Contracting and had an address in Spicewood and he has family members who live in Marble Falls.

In 2015, he was living and working in Cotulla. Johnson was reported missing by his father in a call to the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 5, 2015.

“Mr. Johnson’s father does not know of any address where his son could be in Cotulla,” Sheriff's Capt. Joey Garcia said this week. “We have him in the system as a missing person.”

Johnson’s criminal history includes an arrest in July 2015 related to a failure to appear in court on a drunk-driving citation. He was released on a $3,500 bond from the La Salle County Jail on July 24 that year. His background shows no known gang affiliation and no history of mental illness. He is not presently listed as a wanted fugitive by La Salle County.

“Since his release in July last year, we have no record of him staying in La Salle County, and we do not know whether he left, either,” Garcia said. “When his family members decided to file a missing person report, they made that report here in La Salle County because this was the last place where Mr. Johnson was known to have lived and worked.”

A check on Johnson’s known social media sites indicates no activity since early September 2015, according to the captain. In one of his last social media posts, Johnson indicated he was fond of a “hoppin’ li’l bar in Cotulla” that he described as his “home away from home” and where he drank Corona beer with salt and lime.

Johnson is listed as being 5-foot-6, weighing approximately 180 pounds, with blue eyes, brown hair, a light complexion and favoring a goatee beard. Photographs indicate he has a gap between his upper front teeth.

He was born in Austin on Dec. 7, 1978, and is the unmarried father of two children. He is listed as a having a driver’s license issued in Kansas.

Johnson has been employed by a pipeline company in the past and is known to have operated trenching machines. He was last known to drive a green or teal blue Ford Mustang.

Johnson was last seen wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, brown boots and a brown cap. At the time of his release from the La Salle County Jail he was reported as being in possession of checks worth at least $1,200.

Anyone with information regarding John Michael Johnson Jr.’s whereabouts or who may have information regarding Johnson’s departure from La Salle County, place of work or travel destination, should contact the Sheriff’s Office at 830-879-3044.