The U.S. Army suggested that the Johnsons have a closed-casket funeral for LaVena Johnson. However, her parents wanted to see their daughter one last time and opted for an open-casket funeral. Discrepancies between what the Army told the family came to light when they saw her body. As reported by Hue and Cry, LaVena looked like she had a broken nose, marks on her neck, and broken teeth that appeared to be caused by a violent struggle with someone. There was a small gunshot wound on the side of her head, but the Johnsons were told that LaVena had shot herself in the mouth.

According to journalist and retired trial lawyer Donald Watkins, LaVena had no gunshot residue on her hands despite having supposedly shot a gun, and her fingerprints were not found on the firearm found at the crime scene. John Johnson had a difficult time getting his daughter's autopsy report from the Army, and when he acquired it months later, it looked like the medical examiner who performed the autopsy worked on the assumption that it was a suicide. Scraping from LaVena's fingernails wasn't taken and she wasn't tested for sexual assault. The Johnsons hired an investigator to look into their daughter's case, and when they acquired the case documents, the crime scene photos showed heavy bruising on her face, which suggested that she was hit.

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