Ray Johnson Jr., the owner of Straight Up Auto Sales in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was last seen on September 11, 2008. Johnson's wife spoke to him on the phone at 11:00 p.m. that night, and he told her he was going to tow a vehicle with his wrecker and would be home soon. He was last seen at 11:30 p.m., driving the white 2000 Chevrolet Impala he had just acquired, which was a former police patrol car and still had police decals, sirens, and lights on it.

When Johnson didn't arrive home, his wife went to the dealership and saw the Impala in the locked car lot. The vehicle had a strong odor of bleach, and a baseball hat and one of Johnson's bloodstained shoes were in the trunk, which had been cleaned with bleach. The vehicle was unlocked with the window rolled down, which was uncharacteristic of Johnson, and there was no sign of him at the scene.

In July 2015, Gregory Jerome Epperson, Johnson's wife's cousin, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Johnson's case. One witness, Jarid Taylor, told police that Epperson had held a gun to his head and forced him to help dump a dead body into a creek, and that Epperson said he "got into it with his boy." Blood found in the vehicle Taylor said was used to transport the body was from a male member of Johnson's family and matched the DNA from the blood found in Johnson's Impala.

However, in January 2016, three days before the trial was supposed to begin, the charges against Epperson were dropped for lack of evidence. Johnson has six children and is described as a workaholic. Foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.