- November 27, 2024
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Palm Coast resident Keith Johansen will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of his wife, Brandi Celenza.
A Flagler County jury deliberated for slightly less than three hours on Oct. 28 before finding Johansen, now 39, guilty of first-degree murder for Celenza's April 2018 shooting death. Circuit Judge Christopher France sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"A mother is murdered by her husband, and her 6-year-old child is left to suffer the consequences," State Attorney R.J. Larizza said in a news release. "Life in prison gives little consolation for such a callous and brutal murder."
Johansen had used a 9mm handgun to shoot Celenza, then 25, twice in her chest on the morning of April 7. He'd shot her in the master bedroom of the couple's home on Felter Lane, one room away from where her 6-year-old son sat watching television.
After calling 911 at 10:37 a.m. that day, he told dispatchers that he'd been in the shower when the shooting happened, according to his arrest report.
He at first suggested to 911 dispatchers that Celenza had shot herself accidentally. Later in the investigation, he said she might have been suicidal. At one point, he suggested that a neighbor might have shot her; in another instance, he said Celenza's 6-year-old son may have killed her.
Johansen had had the inside of the house wired with surveillance cameras, but he'd removed the one in the couple's bedroom two days before the shooting, according to a news release from the State Attorney's Office.
By the time the trial began on Oct. 25, he had a new story, this time saying he'd shot Celenza in self-defense.
He displayed no remorse during the investigation or the trial, even when he testified in court, according to the news release.
His testimony did not convince the jury. Assistant State Attorneys Jason Lewis and Jennifer Dunton prosecuted the case.
