I, Travis Paul Johnson have been advised of my Miranda rights and my attorneys have been involved in my decision to make this statement. I am confessing of my own free will. The County Prosecutor has made no guarantee of the outcome of the felony charges pending against me.
(Signed) Travis Paul Johnson, defendant
(Witness) Arby Van Dyke, Detective, Chicago Police Department
(Witness) Karla Peticrew, Cook County Prosecutor's Office
(Witness) C. Frederick Blum, Esq. Attorney
Dated: April 7, 2002
Emily Carrera, CCR, Court Reporter
The story we told the Last Wish people is all a lie-my true age is eighteen and I'm not sick at all. I just want to say that we didn't mean any harm and I'll give back all of the stuff.
It's not easy being the shortest, and only virgins in the Senior class at Schaumburg High School. We just didn't want people to make fun of us anymore, and we wanted to get laid before graduation, that's why we did it.
Me and Kevin were in his basement watching TV and smoking weed during Spring Vacation, when we saw this show on TV about kids who got a special wish cause they were sick or something and there was this one guy, who was thirteen who got to spend the whole day hanging out with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Kevin, says to me, "Dude, that's way cool, I wish we could hang out like that, but not like be really sick or anything."
Justb then, the guy who has the show says that the kids just have to get a letter from their doctor saying they're sick, then these people from the Last Wish Foundation take care of everything. We both sat up and looked at each other and Kevin taped the rest of the show where they gave the address and stuff.
We made up the story about me having cancer. Kevin's mom works for a doctor and she had some of his office stationary in her briefcase for when she works at home sending out bills and stuff. We just popped a blank sheet in the printer and made up the letter that we sent to the Last Wish place, that I was just thirteen and dying and that my dying wish was for me and my best friend, Kevin to spend the night at the Playboy Mansion. We just picked there because we saw it on the Escapade Network and it looked cool with all of those shaggable babes, and it was nearby.
We gave them my number for Kevin and his number for me, so that when the Last Wish people called, we'd know it was they and pretend to be our dads. We didn't think it would work, but about a week later the phone rang and some lady asked for Kevin so I knew it was the Last Wish people. I was real excited and talked to the lady and told her that I (Travis Paul Johnson) was 13 and that I only had a year to live. The lady asked to talk to Kevin's dad, and I told her he went out and to call back in half an hour. I called Kevin right away and told him what happened and while we were talking, he got a call waiting beep and it was Last Wish Lady.
When the lady called back, I changed my voice and pretended to be Kevin's dad. The lady was real nice, and asked me a bunch of questions about me and Kevin, how long we'd known each other and stuff. Then she said not to tell me (Travis Paul Johnson), but that they were going to grant my Last Wish. About a week later we each got a letter and that's when things got complicated and we had to make more stuff up.
The first problem we faced was when they wanted my Mom to sign a consent saying that I could go. Since we couldn't use my mom, or Travis mom, we had to find an adult willing to go along with the situation and we decided to try Lil, an old lady alcoholic who lived over Big Ed's Place, a bar on West Schaumburg near SHS (Schaumburg High School). Lil buys beer and cigarettes if you give her a few bucks and we'd been over there a couple of times.
We pooled our money and me and Kevin went over to her place with $44 and a liter bottle of Gin in his backpack that he stole from his dad's liquor cabinet. We climbed the stairs to Lil's apartment and she was there, still sleeping. We pounded on the door for a long time before she let us in. Lil was 40, I guess, at least, and kind of fat with messy bleach blond hair about half-grown out.
She always reeked of beer and cigarettes, and she had brown fingernails and a wrinkly face from smoking. Lil always tried to hug and kiss the guys, especially after she'd had a few drinks, which was most of the time, I guess. She was just wearing an old pink robe when she let us in and I could see her pubes below her saggy stomach, and that she had a hairy navel. She wasn't pierced anywhere, but she had a Harley tattoo on her chest.
Lil got kind of mad when we told her what we wanted her to do, and she said she was going to call the cops if we didn't get out of her place right away. I was ready to call the whole thing off, but we'd come too far and we didn't want to get in trouble, so Kevin said to wait on the porch and he'd talk to her in private and offer her the money and the gin.
Kevin was in there for awhile and I could hear them talking down low, then it was quiet for a while. I guess about ten minutes went by before I knew Kevin was doing her, because I could hear the springs creaking on her old twin bed over by the window. Kevin was kind of red faced when he came out, and wouldn't say anything. We hung around Woodfield Mall until about three, and went back to school so that we could take the bus home like normal.