OSBI Explains Delay in Notifying Aja Johnson's Family

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Several viewers have asked why a NEWS 9 reporter broke the news to Aja Johnson's father of the discovery of two bodies near Lester Hobbs' car in Norman, and NEWS 9 posed the same question to investigators.

"We've had a lot of bad leads in this case, and we wanted to make sure this was confirmed by OSBI agents on the ground before we notified Aja's family," said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Spokesperson Jessica Brown.

Norman police said they found Lester Hobbs' car around 2:45 p.m. Monday. OSBI did not contact Aja's father, J.J. Johnson, until after 5 p.m. at his Oklahoma City home. In those two and a half hours that passed, multiple media organizations gathered outside Johnson's home, and he voluntarily agreed to talk with reporters about his missing daughter. At one point, Johnson asked NEWS 9's Rusty Surette what our crews in Norman could see. Johnson was told it appeared two bodies were near the vehicle.

"Unfortunately news is immediate," Brown said. "OSBI is not. We don't have the resources that news stations do so it takes us longer, and unfortunately nobody asked us if next of kin had been notified before running with it."

Johnson said he knew Hobbs' car had been discovered in Norman before he got home because his director at work called him while he was on his way home and said she saw something on the news.

More on News9.com:
- Investigation Continues After Bodies of Aja Johnson, Lester Hobbs Possibly Found in Norman
- OSBI Defends Investigation in Aja Johnson Case
- Hobbs' Family Says They Had Feeling Hobbs Would Go to Norman
- Car, Bodies Found in Connection With Case of Missing Girl Aja Johnson
- OSBI Pleads For Safe Return of Aja Johnson
- Search Continues for Missing Oklahoma Girl as Authorities Investigate Her Mother's Death
- OSBI Working Against Time to Find Missing 7-Year-Old
- Alleged Murderer's Family Pleads For Release of Aja Johnson
- Search Continues for Missing Oklahoma Girl
- Surveillance Photos Show Kidnapping, Murder Suspect on Day of Murder