Peggy Johnson: Honoring her Son, Billy Jay Sharpehead
September 4, 2026

Well, he was uh, oh it’s hard to even talk about him right now, you know? He was a good kid, he lived his own life, and it wasn’t the best kind of life that I would’ve wanted him to have But he went off on his own, I think he was fourteen when he left. But he has a heart of gold, you had to know him to see that part of him, and the highest respect for women He couldn’t see a woman even carrying groceries and he would go and help them, even if he didn’t know them. He was like that with women. I had said that to him, I said, “Don’t ever touch a woman in anger, don’t ever hit a woman.” After a while I thought, “hmm I kinda sorry I said that because he’s the one that’s getting hit”, you know? But yeah, he was a good kid, just went down the wrong road with all his friends, in and out of jail, in and out of jail. When he was in jail, I was happy because I knew where he was, when he wasn’t, oh god, I’d just worry, if he’s still alive or whatever, you know? And turns out, that’s eventually what happened to him, somebody murdered him. We had a ceremony for him, just kind of put him to rest, we had kind of like a funeral for him, it was twenty-one years that we’ve been searching for him. And it’s kind of funny, most of the people that were there were girls, girls that he knew from the reserve, yeah they all came there. Not many guys, but girls he had. That’s about him in a nutshell.

 

“Regarding him, is there anything specific like his passions or goals that you would like to share about him?” WLMN Interview Questions (3:50, H. Williams).

 

I don’t think he had any goals because of the life he was leading, that was, that’s what he wanted to do and that’s where he stayed. But you know he was an awesome artist, from the time he was, I don’t know about seven or eight I first saw his drawings, I was just shocked. The talent he had, and he didn’t have to look at a picture to draw, he’d just do it on his own. We got some of his stuff, drawings and that that we’re trying to find, because all of a sudden they all went, people are hiding them or something but, yeah, he was artistic. You met him, you didn’t get that meanness off him, you just didn’t. He was just a funny kid who did his thing his own way.

 

“Are there any words you’d like to use to describe your healing through this?” WLMN Interview Questions (5:25, H. Williams)


Well, I don’t know. The strength I guess, I get from all the years we spent looking for him, trying to find him. But it’s always with me, not only the times we’re searching, I’ll think about him, somewhere along the way, I’ll think about him when I’m driving or something, but uh, I have a lot of regrets. I should have done this, I should’ve done that, I should’ve said this, not knowing we were gonna lose him at such a young age. But we did talk a lot just before he passed, every day we talked about his childhood. He really despised his dad, wanted nothing to do with him, yeah.

 

“With this campaign, is there anything you would hope certain people would understand from this?” (7:00, H. Williams)


I’m at a loss of what to say here, really. There’s so many people out there that don’t know where their loved ones are and they have to go out and look, don’t forget about them Just because you don’t know where they are, they’re somewhere, somewhere if you look, you’ll find them. Even with us we spent about twenty-one years looking, and we always thought we were gonna find him, and we just, nothing yet. We get people saying, “this guy murdered him, that guy murdered him.” But I don’t really listen to that, I just want to find him, period. Don’t forget about them, they are laying out there, whatever is left of them, that needs to be found. Can’t just let them leave, or your life. Sometimes I’ll be thinking about it, and I’ll ask Creator to help me find him, I don’t have to sit down and make myself think about it, it just comes to me that I need to ask for help. And also, St. Anthony who helps you look for stuff that you lots, he always helps you find something, I’ve been talking to him lots too and it’ll come when it comes.

 

It’s good to share. I’d like to know what happened to him. I know I’ve gotten all kinds of stuff from people, the truth about what happened to him if there’s anybody out there that knows anything, and I know they do that are not saying anything. Maybe they’ll get in trouble, that’s why they don’t want to say anything, but if they just kind of know a little bit of something that I hadn’t heard yet, those people I want, I want them to tell me what it is they know. I’m not gonna run to the cops, I just want to know. They’ll pay for what they’ve done themselves. Not for me to pay or make them pay, you know. Don’t forget your missing loved ones, don’t forget them.