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A mother-of-one and librarian, 52-year-old Andrea Cincotta was found dead in the closet of the Arlington, Virginia, apartment she shared with her live-in fiance in August 1998. She had been strangled to death.
Cincotta's tragic death was followed by a tricky investigation that primarily focused on her then-fiance, James Christopher Johnson, as the suspect until a second man named Bobby Joe Leonard, who had been working in the maintenance of their apartment complex, was linked to the case.
Two decades later, Leonard admitted to killing Cincotta, pleaded guilty to murder, and implicated Johnson, alleging that a caller who sounded like him offered $5,000 to commit the murder. Johnson later stood trial and was found not guilty.
Andrea Cincotta's murder case will feature on NBC Dateline's all-new episode this Friday, June 23, at 9 pm ET. The synopsis for the episode, titled Behind the Closet Door, says:
"After Andrea Cincotta is found murdered in her Virginia home, her son embarks on a 20-year quest for justice that leads him down a dark and twisted path. Josh Mankiewicz reports."
Andrea Cincotta's murder: Two suspects, false confessions, and other details from the Arlington cold case
1) Cincotta's body was found by her fiance in the closet
In the early morning hours of August 22, 1998, Andrea Cincotta's body was found in the closet of the Arlington apartment she shared with her live-in fiance, James Christopher Johnson. She was strangled to death, and Johnson was considered the primary suspect in the killing given that he was the first to find the body and call 911. In the first three days of the investigation, he was interrogated for 28 hours.
According to reports, multiple items, including coins, bags, and Cincotta's hatchback Honda Civic, were missing from their house.
2) At first, Andrea Cincotta's fiance confessed to the murder
During the initial stages of the investigation into Cincotta's murder, her fiance at the time, James Christopher Johnson, with whom she had been in a seven-year relationship, confessed to the murder, claiming that they got into an argument that turned physical and that he knocked her into a desk in their bedroom. As per the confession, the 54-year-old's neck hit the table.
Johnson's version of the events was, however, inconsistent with the injuries the victim had sustained. Reports state that she was strangled to death and failed to show any blunt force injuries, which discredited his confession.
3) A maintenance worker was also suspected of the killing until the case went cold
Soon, a maintenance worker named Bobby Joe Leonard, who had been working in the apartment complex and had also been to Andrea Cincotta's apartment in the weeks leading up to the murder, became a suspect in the investigation. It was revealed that Cincotta had given Leonard an old computer and printer.
Following these revelations, the case went cold, and Leonard was convicted of r*pe in an unrelated case involving a 13-year-old girl from Fairfax County. He was sentenced to life in prison when Cincotta's case was re-opened by cold-case detectives in 2013.
Five years later, Leonard confessed to the killing and implicated James Christopher Johnson when prosecutors offered to take the death penalty off the table. He alleged that prior to the murder, a man who sounded like Johnson called and hired him to commit the crime. In exchange, he was offered $5,000 and given detailed instructions on how to execute the murder.
4) Both Bobby Joe Leonard and James Christopher Johnson were charged in the killing
In 2021, both men, 59-year-old Johnson and 53-year-old Leonard, were charged with aggravated murder. The following July, Leonard pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was eventually given a life sentence. Meanwhile, Johnson stood trial in October, was found not guilty by a jury, and was later acquitted of all charges. The jury refused to believe Leonard's testimony, calling him a "serial liar."
NBC Dateline will further delve into Andrea Cincotta's decades-old murder this Friday.
