Missouri convict faces scheduled execution after fatally beating 6-year-old girl in 2002
Johnny Jonhson will be executed Tuesday for the death of 6-year-old Cassandra “Casey” Williamson after trying to sexually assault her and repeatedly beating her with a rock and brick at an abandoned Missouri factory in 2002
A man who kidnapped a 6-year-old girl and killed her by beating her badly in an abandoned glass factory will be executed Tuesday in Missouri, as his legal team insisted he is mentally incompetent.
Johnny Jonhson, 45, was convicted of the July 26, 2002, murder of Cassandra “Casey” Williamson, whose disappearance caused a desperate search in his hometown of Valley Park.
The girl’s mother had been a childhood best friend of the defendant’s older sister and had even helped babysit him.
Johnson attended a barbecue the night before the murder, Casey’s family let him sleep on the couch in the house.
In the morning, the man lured the minor girl to the abandoned factory, even carrying her on his shoulders on the way to the ruined site. When he attempted to sexually assault her, the girl screamed and tried to escape.
According to court documents, the man killed her with a brick and a large stone, then washed himself in the nearby Meramec River. Later that day, Johnson confessed to his crimes, officials said.
After a search involving rescuers and volunteers, Casey’s body was found in a well less than a mile from her home, buried under rocks and debris.
The girl’s mother had been a childhood best friend of the defendant’s older sister and had even helped babysit him.
Johnson attended a barbecue the night before the murder, Casey’s family let him sleep on the couch in the house.
In the morning, the man lured the minor girl to the abandoned factory, even carrying her on his shoulders on the way to the ruined site. When he attempted to sexually assault her, the girl screamed and tried to escape.
According to court documents, the man killed her with a brick and a large stone, then washed himself in the nearby Meramec River. Later that day, Johnson confessed to his crimes, officials said.
After a search involving rescuers and volunteers, Casey’s body was found in a well less than a mile from her home, buried under rocks and debris.
A three-judge federal appeals court panel temporarily halted the scheduled execution last week, but the full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it.
Cassandra “Casey” Williamson, 6, who was found dead after being abducted from her home on July 26, 2022. (Getty Images)
Johnson’s lawyers then filed numerous appeals to the Supreme Court focusing on his competence to be executed.
For his part, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Monday rejected the clemency petition to reduce the defendant’s sentence to life in prison.
“Johnny Johnson’s crime is one of the most horrific murders ever to come across my desk,” Parson, a former sheriff, said in a statement.
Johnson’s legal team’s clemency application said the murdered girl’s father, Ernie Williamson, opposed the death penalty.
However, Casey’s great-aunt, Della Steele, wrote an emotional plea to Parson calling on him to go ahead with the execution and to “send the message that it was not OK to terrorize and kill a child.” The woman said in the missive that the grief over the child’s death had destructive effects among other family members.
“He did a horrible thing. He took the life of a completely innocent child, and that has to have consequences,” Steele told The Associated Press.
The child’s great-aunt has spearheaded several community efforts to honor Casey. She has raised funds for several years, and Casey’s family offered $500 scholarships or savings bonds to the 65 seniors at Valley Park High School in 2014, the year the girl would have graduated.
Johnson’s execution would be the 16th in the United States this 2023. In addition to the three previous executions in Missouri, there have been five in Texas, four in Florida, two in Oklahoma and one in Alabama.
Last year there were 18 executions in six states across the country.