ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Missouri Gov. Mike Parson confirmed Monday that the state will carry out the execution of a St. Louis who kidnapped and murdered a then six-year-old St. Louis County girl back in 2002.
Johnny Johnson will be executed on Tuesday. Aug 1st for the kidnapping and murder of then six-year-old Casey Williamson.
"Johnny Johnson’s crime is one of the most horrific murders that has come across my desk," Gov. Parson said, "Casey was an innocent young girl who bravely fought Johnson until he took her life. My office has received countless letters in the last few weeks seeking justice for Casey. 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."
Williamson was kidnapped and brutally murdered by Johnson at a abandoned factory as he was attempting to rape her. Williamson tried to fight back, but Johnson repeatedly struck her head with a brick until finally crushing her skull with a “basketball-sized boulder.”
Johnson originally received a stay of execution last week when his attorneys attempted to quest his mental incompetence at the time of the murder. However, the Missouri State Supreme Court determined that Johnson was competent at the time of the murder, failing to make a “substantial threshold of insanity,”