Irving Police make arrest in 1994 cold case murder of Megan Johns

Arrest made for 1994 cold case murder of Megan Johns

Irving Police say after 30 years, eight months and six days, an arrest has been made in the 1994 cold case murder of 29-year-old Megan Johns.

IRVING, Texas - Irving Police say after 30 years, eight months and six days, an arrest has been made in the 1994 cold case murder of 29-year-old Megan Johns.

Darryl Patrick Goggans, 61, was arrested on June 10, 2025, and is facing a charge of capital murder.

(Source: Irving Police Department)

1994 Cold Case

The backstory:

According to the Irving Police Department, on Oct. 5, 1994, Megan Johns' coworkers called the Apple Apartments on W. Walnut Hill because she had not shown up for work that morning. 

The manager of the apartment complex went to her apartment and knocked on the door. When no one answered, Irving Police say the apartment manager went in through the sliding glass door and saw Johns' body on the floor. Police say she was lying face down, close to the center of the living room, and had been stabbed multiple times.

Police believe Johns knew her attacker, because there was no forced entry. Investigators say the apartment had been ransacked.

"Megan had issues with drugs and alcohol. She had gotten sober, and she was now helping people to become sober as well. In doing that, she was around people who had drug and alcohol histories. So she did hang around people that may have looked to victimize her," said Detective Curtis with the Irving Police Department in a video released in 2023. "They interviewed people, they checked alibis, they used the polygraph, and polygraphs aren't foolproof, but they did have the palm print that they had recovered from the scene, and they took palm prints from people. They compared the palm prints and none of those matched."

Since 1994, the Irving Police Department has reexamined Megan's case multiple times, leaving no stone unturned, they said. 

"Sometimes when you use those samples, depending on the size of the sample, you use it all up. And if you used it all up, testing it with a method that wasn't going to yield the results we were looking for, and we didn't want to do it at that time," said Curtis in the 2023 video.

Murder of Megan Johns

The Irving Police Department describes the night 29-year-old Megan Johns was murdered in her Walnut Hill apartment on Oct. 5, 1994. This video is from the Irving Police Department and was released on Oct. 5, 2023.

The Latest:

During a recent review of evidence, a sample was tested and yielded a DNA profile. That profile was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which resulted in the positive identification of Goggans.

During the June 11 news conference, investigators didn't get into many details about the evidence or how Goggans was found, but said he was in Lancaster, Texas when he was arrested and brought to Irving.

Irving 1994 Cold Case Murder Arrest

The Irving Police Department, including current investigators and detectives who worked the case starting in 1994, spoke to the media on Wednesday about the arrest in the 1994 cold case murder of Megan Johns. Her sister, who was 9 years old at the time of the murder, spoke to media, along with one of Megan's friends.

Investigators say he was interviewed at the time of the murder, along with "probably hundreds of people" in reference to the case. The lead detective on the case in 1994 said Goggans didn't develop into a person of interest or a suspect at the time. 

"We didn't have the technology from DNA back then, but we kept [the DNA] and we kept trying," said retired Sgt. Tom Rowan. Rowan worked on the case from 1994, until his retirement in 2016.

Goggans was her next-door neighbor at the time of the murder, investigators say. 

Goggans is charged with capital murder and is currently in custody at the Irving City Jail. No bond has been set.

Victim's Friend

What they're saying:

Johns friend, Kelly Chance, spoke about how long she had been waiting for a break in this case.

"Thirty years, eight months six days later we get an arrest and having her family and friends all waiting praying for this day to come says a lot about who Megan was more than anything, and Meagan was a beautiful person, beautiful soul."

What you can do:

If you have any information regarding Goggans’ involvement in this case, you are asked to please contact Detective Curtis at 972-721-3539 or Ecurtis@IrvingTX.gov. Additionally, you can submit anonymous tips to IPDCrimeTips@IrvingTX.gov.