Lavonia Browning is the actual name of the woman who went by the alias Shay Johnson and convinced the public that she was Tyre Sampson’s cousin.
Browning held press conferences, petitioned, conducted a vigil, received sympathetic hugs, and cried in front of cameras under the guise of being related to the 14-year-old who died on an ICON park amusement ride in Orlando. The Sampson family revealed to detectives that Browning is not a part of the family. It’s unclear whether or not Browning knew the victim.
“This is hurting us,” Browning said in front of reporters with tear-filled eyes hiding behind oversized dark sunglasses at Sampson’s vigil, held in front of the ride.
“The hardest thing I had to do was clean his blood up. They didn’t even clean it,” she told reporters.
The Sun-Sentinel reported that the woman said she conversed with Sampson before he got on the Free Fall on March 24, claiming he had been denied access on other rides due to his size since the weight limit on rides was 300 pounds. Family members confirmed that Sampson weighed about 325 pounds. After informing detectives that they didn’t know the imposter, detectives looked into who the imposter was and discovered she had a clean record with no arrest warrants.
Despite the unfortunate situation for the family, spokesperson Michelle Guido said there’s no “evidence of crime,” so Browning hasn’t been charged with anything. And, so far, no one in the Sampson family is looking to press charges against her. The Sentinel also reported that the phone number the woman gave reporters in case they needed to reach out was out of service as of March 31.
ABC 9 News reported that Browning worked at the Flash Dancer’s Bar in Orlando. Her former employer said in a statement that her employment had been terminated.
