Missouri sets execution date for drifter who lured six-year-old girl before bludgeoning her to death
Johnny Johnson, a man who sexually assaulted and murdered a six-year-old girl in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2002, has been given an August 1 execution date.
The Missouri Supreme Court has set an execution date for a man who sexually assaulted and murdered a six-year-old St. Louis County girl in 2002.
Johnny Johnson is to be executed on August 1 at the state penitentiary in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
Johnson, 45, was staying with friends in Valley Park, Missouri, in July 2002 when Cassandra “Casey” Williamson went missing.
Dozens of volunteers joined police in searching for the little girl who was a preschooler at Valley Park Elementary School. She was said to be a young, cheerful girl with a radiant smile, who loved to ride a bike and sing.
The girl’s body was found in a pit less than a mile from her home, buried under stones and rubble. Johnson confessed to the crimes.
A drifter and ex-con, Johnson was 24 when he killed Casey, who would now be 27.
Casey was said to be a young, happy girl with a bright smile who loved to ride a bike and sing
In the hours following her disappearance, St. Louis County police, members of the FBI and nearly 100 volunteers spent several hours combing nearby woods along the Meramec River in a desperate search for the youngster.
Casey’s body was found soon after when one of the volunteers who had searched the grounds of the old St. Louis Plate Glass Company found her in a pit less than a mile from her home.
He had been invited to spend the night on the couch of a house on Benton Street in Valley Park where Casey’s father, Ernie, was staying.
Ernie woke up at 7 a.m. to find his daughter standing in the living room with Johnson. But by the time he came back from the bathroom, both Casey and Johnson were gone.
Johnson managed to lure Casey out of the house and down the street, taking her into a labyrinth of tunnels, old furnaces, and underground chambers of an abandoned glass factory.
He killed her by hitting rocks and stones here after she started screaming and kicking as she tried to crawl away from Johnson when he tried to sexually assault her.
Ernie and Angie Williamson, Casey’s parents, contacted the police to report their daughter missing.
A drifter and ex-con, Johnson was 24 when he killed Casey, who would have been 27 now
Dozens of volunteers joined police in searching for the little girl who was a preschooler at Valley Park Elementary School
St. Louis County Police, members of the FBI and nearly 100 volunteers spent the next several hours combing the nearby woods along the Meramec River in a desperate search for the youngster.
People living nearby reported seeing Johnson carry the six-year-old in his arms, still in her nightgown.
After the murder, he washed off in the Meramec River before returning to the house to retrieve a pack of cigarettes. He was soaked and detained by the police.
Casey’s body was found soon after when one of the volunteers who had searched the grounds of the old St. Louis Plate Glass Company found her in a pit less than a mile from her home.
Casey and her family were staying at a friend’s house across the street from their own home on Thursday, July 25, 2002.
Eve witnesses at the time said they saw Johnson carrying Casey on his shoulders
Volunteers searching for the boy were devastated when they learned that her body had been found
She was buried under large stones and rubble.
Johnson also told police where her body claimed she died in an accident and that he buried her.
Investigators did not believe Johnson’s story and determined that Casey died as a result of blunt force trauma from a rock collision.
Police said he admitted to kidnapping Casey with the intent to rape and kill her.
In the weeks and days before, Johnson had stopped taking medication for schizophrenia, according to testimony given by his defense at trial. Dr John Rabun.
Johnson suffered from mental illness from the age of thirteen and was suicidal.
Johnson was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping, and attempted forcible rape.
His initial diagnosis was depression, but was later diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, similar to schizophrenia.
At trial, his attorney, Beverly Biemdiek, asked the jury to convict him on the lesser charge of first-degree murder, claiming that the mental illness prevented Johnson from deliberating coolly.
The then District Attorney, Robert P. McCulloch, told the jurors, “We are here for one reason and one reason only. We’re here for what Johnny Johnson did. Don’t let them guilt you into doing anything. It was Johnny Johnson who bricked this little girl to death.”
Johnny Johnson is to be executed on August 1 at the state penitentiary in Bonne Terre, Missouri
Johnson has been on death row at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point, Missouri, since his conviction
On March 7, 2005, a judge sentenced Johnson to death for the murder conviction and consecutive life sentences for the other crimes.
Since then, Johnny Johnson has been on death row at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point, Missouri. In 2012 he made an attempt to have the verdict reversed, but that was refused.
Missouri has already executed two people in 2023: Amber McLaughlin in January and Raheem Taylor in February.
Michael Andrew Tisius is to be executed June 6 for the 2000 shooting and death of Randolph County jailers Jason Acton and Leon Egley.