Accused killer Jeremiah Johnston felt so comfortable with his new friend at the Washington County Jail that he couldn’t help but spill the details about what he’d done.

How he was enraged when Sara Zghoul refused to repay a drug debt. How he killed, then dismembered her last year in the basement of his parents’ home in Aloha. How he planned to keep secret the whereabouts of some of her remains as a “bargaining chip” with prosecutors.

He acted out the murder for his attentive confidant while they were in the jail’s rec yard, making a slicing motion across his neck. Learning that his buddy would get out of jail soon, Johnston tried to hire him to kill a witness.

What Johnston would find out later: He was confiding all this to a former cop.

Jeremiah Johnston, left; Daniel Kerbs, right.

And the disgraced officer – in jail himself after pleading guilty to a sex crime – kept meticulous notes, filling nine single-spaced pages that he turned over to investigators.

Those details would prove essential in convicting Johnston.

Last week, in a courtroom packed with Zghoul’s family and friends, Johnston pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder of a witness. Under an agreement Johnston reached with the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, he was sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 65 years.

Aref Zghoul, Sara's father, is supported by his younger sister, Rania Zghoul, during last week's court proceeding. Jeremiah Johnston pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree abuse of corpse and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the killing of Sara Zghoul, 28. He was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, December 4, 2019. Beth Nakamura/Staff

Johnston, a convicted drug dealer who lived with his parents, sat stone-faced between his lawyers as the prosecutor spelled out the killer’s motive, the staggering depravity of the attack and the botched efforts to cover it up – information the killer himself provided to former Woodburn police officer Daniel Kerbs during their many conversations over four weeks last summer.

Senior Deputy District Attorney John Gerhard said Kerbs’ dossier shed critical light on the circumstances of Zghoul’s death. Investigators had key physical evidence but lacked a clear understanding of the crime.

“We didn’t know for sure what had happened,” Gerhard said. “We could speculate, but he really filled in those gaps with the details he received from Johnston.”

Kerbs’ used his police training to extract information from Johnston that he figured would help, the prosecutor said.

“He knew what types of questions would be important to ask and was wise enough to take detailed notes about what he had learned from Johnston,” Gerhard said.

***

Based on the information Kerbs turned over, authorities could pinpoint the moment Johnston made up his mind to kill the 28-year-old Zghoul:

Johnston had shoved the woman down a flight of stairs, causing her to strike her head. She vomited and asked if she could shower. Johnston agreed, using the time to retrieve a knife from the kitchen.

“At this point, I had already decided to kill her,” Johnston told Kerbs, according to the former police officer’s notes.

There was more: Kerbs was nearing the end of his sentence. So Johnston tried to hire him to kill a key witness for $50,000.

The witness, Jeremy Mooney, 36, of Gresham, was an old friend of Johnston’s. Johnston confessed to Mooney that he killed Zghoul.

Mooney cooperated with investigators, telling them the general location of Johnston’s car, which held most of Zghoul’s remains.

In this Oregonian file photo, Washington County Sheriff's Office forensic investigators collected evidence inside the Aloha home where Jeremiah Johnston killed Sara Zghoul. (Elliot Njus/Staff) LC- Elliot Njus/StaffLC- Elliot Njus/Staff

Johnston wanted Mooney out of the way and approached his jail pal.

Johnston, Kerbs wrote on July 21, “wants me to send him a letter from fake name and address with keyword ‘Sparta’ somewhere in the narrative.” Johnston said that would be their code word for Mooney “being successfully executed,” Kerbs wrote.

Police later intercepted a letter Johnston sent to Kerbs. In it, Johnston seems to suggest that he missed their freewheeling conversations, writing that he hadn’t “been able to talk to people on the level we connected on.”

Before signing off, he wrote: “P.S. SPARTA?”

After talking to Kerbs, Washington County Sheriff’s Office Detective Brad Verboort pulled surveillance video of the jail’s outdoor recreation space where Kerbs and Johnston sometimes talked. The footage didn’t have sound.

He watched as an animated Johnston demonstrated how he bound Zghoul’s hands, stepped over her and sat on her.

“He is seen making what appears to be a slicing motion towards his neck,” Verboort wrote in his report.

At one point in their conversation, “Johnston and Kerbs appear to make some sort of ‘pinky promise,’” the detective wrote.

By the time Verboort watched the tape, Kerbs had already given police a detailed timeline of Johnston’s account.

***

Investigators made clear in their reports that they never sought Kerbs’ help.

“We made every effort to explain to Kerbs that we were not requesting his assistance and that we were not requesting or instructing him to obtain any information in regards to this case,” Verboort wrote after one meeting.

Kerbs, acting more as in-house detective than jailhouse snitch, persisted, scouring for details he thought might help investigators.

Despite his apparent efforts, Kerbs couldn’t get Johnston to give up the one thing that Zghoul’s family hoped for: Johnston wouldn’t reveal what he had done with Zghoul’s head.

A large crowd gathered outside the courthouse at the end of last week's plea and sentencing hearing for Jeremiah Johnston. Sara Zghoul's older sister, Eman Noble, thanked the crowd and spoke about the pain of losing her sister. Johnston pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree abuse of corpse and conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday, December 4, 2019. Beth Nakamura/Staff

“He was able to extract that it seemed that Johnston had thrown the head into water,” Verboort wrote.

Police still don’t know the whereabouts of the woman’s head. Johnston also changed the passcode on her cellphone and refuses to disclose it.

Kerbs’ motive for helping police is unclear. His sentence was not reduced as a result of his efforts; authorities said he received nothing in return for his help.

Last year, Kerbs, 31, pleaded guilty to first-degree online sexual corruption of a child and second-degree sexual abuse. According to Tigard police, a then-18-year-old contacted the agency in 2017 to report Kerbs had abused her years earlier. Kerbs was a family friend, police said.

An indictment in the case said the abuse occurred between September 2013 and November 2014, and it included Kerbs soliciting the girl online for sex and taking steps to meet her.

He was sentenced to five months in jail and five years of probation. He was also required to register as a sex offender.

Kerbs declined The Oregonian/OregonLive’s request for an interview. He had worked for the Woodburn Police Department for three years at the time of his arrest and before that was a corrections officer. His law enforcement certification was revoked last year.

***

The former cop’s notes are part of the Zghoul case file. Police reports reveal how the young woman was in the throes of drug addiction despite her family’s efforts over the years to rescue her. She came from a large close-knit family in Aloha.

She left behind an 8-year-old son, Tariq; he’s now in her parents’ care.

The reports also show that Johnston, who lived about a half-mile away, did sporadic work as a landscaper and was dependent on his parents for support.

Sara Zghoul's family and friends last week held a vigil outside of the Aloha home where Jeremiah Johnston killed Zghoul last year. December 4, 2019 Beth Nakamura/Staff

Kerbs’ account of Johnston’s disclosures provided not only crucial information for investigators but also exposed Johnston’s calculated brutality. At one point, he told Kerbs he considered disposing of the woman’s remains based on an episode of “Dexter,” a TV series about a serial killer.

He appeared to show no remorse, coldly recounting for Kerbs the final moments of the woman’s life.

Johnston told Kerbs that Zghoul had addressed her young son:

“I love you.”

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184

ncrombie@oregonian.com

ncrombie@oregonian.com