American man of Missouri was executed for the abduction and murder of a 6-year-old girl in 2002

Johnny Johnson, 45, died Tuesday by lethal injection for the 2002 killing of 6-year-old Casey Williamson

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Justice was served today after a white man was executed for the murder of an innocent girl. There are executions took place across the United States this year involving white people for the deaths of innocent children.

The man who abducted and beat a 6-year-old girl to death in St. Louis County in 2002 was executed Tuesday evening.

Johnny Johnson, 45, died at 6:33 p.m., minutes after a state executioner delivered a fatal dose of the sedative pentobarbital. A spiritual adviser sat beside him as Johnson looked toward a viewing room filled with friends and attorneys before closing his eyes.

“God bless,” Johnson wrote in a final statement. “Sorry to the people and family I hurt.”

Johnson was convicted by a jury in 2005 after abducting Casey Williamson from a home in Valley Park and taking her to an abandoned glass factory where he tried to sexually assault her. She fought back, and he killed her.

Casey’s family members told the Post-Dispatch last week that they had mixed feelings about Johnson’s execution, but her mother, Angie Wideman, said she was ready to put the whole thing behind her.

“I’ve been looking forward to putting this part of it to rest,” she said. 

The family did not offer a statement after the execution, but in a waiting area at the state prison in Bonne Terre, the detective who led the investigation for the St. Louis County Police Department, Paul Neske, and former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said they were thinking of the family as they waited to witness Johnson’s death.

Neske said he’d seen hundreds of crime scenes in his career as a homicide detective, but Casey’s death was “more violent and brutal than any case I’d ever seen.”

He remembered interviewing Johnson for hours after Casey’s death, pulling his chair in close as officers brought in boxes of the 6-year-old’s belongings. Johnson’s demeanor changed, Neske recalled.

“They’re going to find out that you did this,” Neske remembered saying to Johnson. “Where is she?”

Casey was taken from their home in Valley Park on July 26, 2002, by Johnson — a family friend who had slept on the couch the previous night. 

Johnson brought the girl to the abandoned factory in a heavily wooded area along the Meramec River where he tried to sexually assault her. He hit her head repeatedly with a brick until finally crushing her skull with a boulder.

Authorities eventually found her still lying in the factory, buried in a shallow grave.

“There’s little things that will always stick with you,” Neske said.

Johnson was convicted by a jury in January 2005 of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping and attempted rape. Months later, he was sentenced to death.

McCulloch said death penalty cases like Johnson’s were “in a league of their own.”

Johnson’s attorneys and family have argued that Johnson suffered from schizophrenia and began unraveling after his release from a state mental hospital months before Casey’s death. His struggles have continued in prison, where attorneys say he came to believe that Satan was using the state of Missouri to kill him to bring about the end of the world. 

In recent filings, Johnson’s lawyers have asked various appeals courts to stop his execution, arguing he couldn’t comprehend why he was being put to death. But those attempts were all denied. 

On Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, announced the execution would move forward. He called Casey’s death “one of the most horrific murders that has come across my desk.” 

“Although this won’t bring her back, we hope that carrying out Johnson’s sentence according to the court’s order may provide some closure for Casey’s loved ones,” Parson said.

On Tuesday morning, Johnson met with family members and was served a last meal of a bacon cheeseburger, curly fries and a strawberry milkshake just after 11 a.m.

At 6:13 p.m., witnesses were ushered into the execution area. At 6:24, a state executioner delivered the lethal injection.

A priest, the Rev. Gerald Kleba, sat by Johnson’s head and either spoke or sang as Johnson closed his eyes.

Johnson was pronounced dead minutes later.

He is the fourth death row inmate to executed by Missouri this year. Amber McLaughlin was put to death on Jan. 3, Leonard Taylor on Feb. 7 and Michael Tisius on June 6.