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Murder of Casey Williamson
On July 26, 2002, 6-year-old Cassandra "Casey" Lynn Williamson (born November 23, 1995), disappeared from her hometown of Valley Park, Missouri. After an extensive search, her body was found at an abandoned glass factory. Subsequently, investigations led to the arrest of Johnny Allen Johnson (born March 16, 1978), who was a family acquaintance. Johnson, who confessed to murdering the girl while he attempted to rape her, was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005. Despite his claims of mental illness, which were all rejected by the courts, Johnson was eventually executed on August 1, 2023.[1] Disappearance and murderOn July 26, 2002, at Valley Park in St. Louis County, Missouri, a six-year-old girl was abducted from her home by a family acquaintance. Cassandra Williamson, affectionately known as "Casey", was last seen before 7am at the kitchen by her father Ernie Williamson, who noticed her missing after he came back from the bathroom. At the time of Williamson's disappearance, Ernie was separated from his wife Angie and lived across the street just to remain close with his children, and he happened to be staying over when he found out his daughter went missing. After about 30 minutes since Williamson's disappearance, Williamson's parents reported her missing. The authorities, including local police, St. Louis County deputy sheriffs and FBI agents, conducted the search for the missing girl, and many members of the community volunteered to look for Williamson.[2][3] Subsequently, the police received information from witnesses that they saw the girl being carried away by a man, who was identified as 24-year-old Johnny Allen Johnson (alias Movant), who was a friend of the Williamson family. Williamson's mother was a childhood best friend of Johnson's older sister and even helped babysit Johnson during his childhood years. In fact, the night before the girl went missing, Johnson attended a barbecue at Williamson's house and the family allowed him to spend the night, and he slept on the couch; Johnson himself was found to be absent at the time when Williamson gone missing. Evidence showed that just six months ago, Johnson was released from a state psychiatric facility, where he was confined due to schizophrenia.[2][4][5] Johnson was therefore brought in for police questioning and he denied being involved in the disappearance of Williamson. Subsequently, Johnson admitted that he was responsible for murdering Williamson and admitted that he took the girl out to an abandoned glass factory near the girl's home, where he killed her. Williamson's corpse was eventually found in a pit less than a mile from her home by one of the volunteers that joined the search for the girl. An autopsy revealed that Williamson died from blunt force injuries to her head, which caused skull fractures and bruising of her scalp and brain. Furthermore, there were other injuries to the arms, shoulders, legs, and back, and signs of semen were found on the shorts of Johnson, which indicated that he had likely sexually assaulted the girl.[2][6] Upon the discovery of the girl's body, Johnson was arrested and detained for investigations into the murder of Casey Williamson. Based on further investigations, Johnson, who was previously convicted of burglary before the murder, was found to have abducted the girl and took her to an abandoned glass factory, where he attempted to rape Williamson. However, as Williamson resisted his advances, Johnson used a brick and large rock to hit Williamson on the head more than once and consequently battered six-year-old Casey Williamson to death. After the killing, Johnson abandoned the body of the girl at the pit, and even washed himself at the nearby Meramec River.[2][7] A memorial was held for the girl on July 30, 2002. Mourners, including Williamson's friends and members of the public, gathered at Twin Oaks Presbyterian Church to pay respects, and the memorial was broadcast live on television.[8][9][10] Trial of Johnny Johnson
After his arrest, Johnny Johnson was charged with the kidnapping, attempted rape and murder of Casey Williamson. Under Missouri state law, Johnson faced the death penalty or life imprisonment should he be found guilty of the most serious charge of first-degree murder in the case of Williamson's death.[11][12] Johnson's trial took place about two years after his arrest. Standing trial before a St. Louis County jury, Johnson never denied that he murdered Williamson, but his main defence was diminished responsibility. Johnson's lawyers sought to argue that as a result of his psychiatric disorders, including schizoaffective disorder, Johnson's state of mind at the time of the murders was severely impaired and he killed Williamson after experiencing hallucinations, and he was not capable of planning the murder. A psychiatrist diagnosed Johnson with schizoaffective disorder and testified on his behalf, and Johnson's girlfriend testified that Johnson stopped taking his medication and had been acting paranoid during the period leading up to the murder.[2][13] In rebuttal, the prosecution called upon psychiatric experts who testified that Johnson was still capable of deliberation and his mental responsibility had not been affected by any psychiatric illnesses, and it was not likely that Johnson would experience any psychosis that resulted in hallucinations that drove him into murdering Williamson; it was also speculated that any hallucinations possibly explored by Johnson during the course of the murder was caused by drug intoxication rather than psychiatric conditions.[2] On January 18, 2005, the 12-member jury found Johnson guilty of the murder of Williamson,[14] and he was sentenced to death on March 7, 2005, in addition to three consecutive life sentences for the other charges of armed criminal action, kidnapping, and attempted forcible rape.[2] Appeal processOn November 7, 2006, the Missouri Supreme Court rejected Johnny Johnson's appeal against the death sentence and murder conviction.[2] On November 20, 2012, Johnson appealed once again to the Missouri Supreme Court, but his motion was denied by the court.[15] About two months later, a follow-up appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court was rejected again on January 29, 2013.[16] On February 28, 2020, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri dismissed Johnson's appeal.[17] Death warrant and executionOn April 20, 2023, the Missouri Supreme Court approved the death warrant of Johnny Johnson, whose death sentence was scheduled to be carried out on August 1, 2023.[18][19] As a final resort to escape the death penalty, Johnson filed last minute appeals to challenge his execution, stating that he was incompetent to be executed due to his schizophrenia, and his lawyers urged the courts to consider that it had affected his state of mind when the murder of Williamson happened, and added that he experienced delusions about the devil using his death to bring about the end of the world. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected the appeal on June 8, 2023.[20][21][22] On July 17, 2023, District Judge Matthew T. Schelp of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri dismissed the appeal of Johnson to delay his execution.[23][24] On July 26, 2023, however, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily postponed the execution by a split decision of 2–1.[25] However, the Missouri Attorney General's Office appealed against the ruling, and on July 29, 2023, a re-hearing convened before a different panel at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the stay order was overturned, allowing the execution to move forward.[26][27] The U.S. Supreme Court also refused to allow Johnson's appeal and confirmed his death sentence.[28] As a final resort to escape the death penalty, Johnson petitioned for clemency from the state governor, with hopes that his death sentence could be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. On the eve of the execution, Missouri Governor Mike Parson also rejected Johnson's clemency plea and ordered the execution to move forward as scheduled.[29] Out of Williamson's family, her father opposed executing Johnson due to his opposition to the death penalty,[30] but others, including Williamson's great aunt Della Steele, wanted Johnson to be put to death. Steele urged the governor to not show mercy for Johnson as she felt that justice should be served and instead of turning back, Johnson made the conscious choice of kidnapping and murdering Williamson and caused destruction to the lives of those around her forever.[31][32] On August 1, 2023, 45-year-old Johnny Allen Johnson was put to death via lethal injection at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.[33] Prior to his execution, Johnson reportedly ordered a final meal of one bacon cheeseburger, curly fries and a strawberry shake.[34] In a brief handwritten last statement, Johnson expressed remorse for the murder and said, "God Bless. Sorry to the people and family I hurt." Johnson was pronounced dead at 6.33pm after he was administered with a single dose of pentobarbital.[35] Johnson was the fourth person to be executed in Missouri and overall the 16th condemned criminal to be put to death in the U.S. during the year of 2023.[36] AftermathIn the aftermath, the abandoned glass factory where the murder happened was demolished in August 2002.[37] In memory of Williamson, her bereaved loved ones established a scholarship, and an annual community safety fair in her name, and provided child identification kits in these events.[38][39] In 2022, a crime documentary titled The Worst Crime was released on Amazon Prime Video, which covered the case of Casey Williamson's abduction and murder. A former juror had expressed in the documentary that even after a decade since the crime that the killing was the worst possible crime ever witnessed.[40] During the final days before the execution, the family of Williamson spoke up in the media about their feelings towards the case. Williamson's mother, who had since divorced her then husband and engaged with another man, stated that the impact of her daughter's murder was so much that Williamson's oldest sister (aged 12 at the time of the murder) had begun abusing drugs and alcohol, and died in 2015 due to substance overdose, and Williamson's two younger siblings (aged two and four at the time of the murder) had struggled with mental illnesses and making relationships with other people. Another relative revealed that Williamson's grandfather similarly turned to alcoholism due to his grief of losing a granddaughter and died. Williamson's mother told the press that while she wanted Johnson to be executed for killing her daughter, she sympathized with his family and felt they did not deserve the blame for Johnson's actions.[41] See also
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