JOHNNY ALLEN JOHNSON | Murdered Six-Year Old Casey Williamson On July 26, 2002 | Lifted a basketball-sized boulder and brought it down on the girl's head and neck | Sentenced to death on March 7, 2005 | Lot of 5 ALS

Johnny Allen Johnson. Lot of 5: (1) Handwritten ALS. Commercial #10 (4.125” x 9.5”) envelope. Pmk: February 26, 2007. Content unknown. Pristine; (2) Handwritten ALS. Baronial #6 Bar (4.75” x 6.5”) envelope. Pmk: February 27, 2007. Content unknown. Pristine; (3) Commercial #10 (4.125” x 9.5”) envelope. Pmk: March 1, 2007. Content unknown. Pristine; (4) Commercial #10 (4.125” x 9.5”) envelope. Pmk: March 6, 2007. Content unknown. Pristine; (5) Commercial #10 (4.125” x 9.5”) envelope. Pmk: March 23, 2007. Content unknown. Pristine.

• Classification: Murderer

• Characteristics: Rape

• Number of victims: 1

• Date of murder: July 26, 2002

• Date of arrest: Same day

• Date of birth: March 16, 1978

• Victim profile: Casey Williamson (female, 6)

• Method of murder: Lifted a basketball-sized boulder and brought it down on the girl's head and neck

• Location: St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• Status: Sentenced to death on March 7, 2005ⁱ

Facts

Johnny Johnson's (b. March 16, 1978 | age 45) hereinafter refered to as “Johnny”) convictions resulted from the murder of six-year old Casey Williamson on July 26, 2002. Casey lived with her mother, Angie, and her siblings at her grandfather's home on Benton Street in Valley Park, Missouri. Casey's parents were separated and her father, Ernie, lived across the street, in the home of Michelle Rehm and her boyfriend Eddy, so that he could remain close to his children.

Two days before Casey's murder, on July 24, 2002, Johnny went to Michelle's house to look for Eddy and Ernie. That same day, he was seen by Casey's sister, Chelsea, and her friend, Angel, when they were riding bikes on Benton Street. Chelsea and her friend noticed that Johnny was following them and sped up as they returned home.

On the night of July 24, 2002, Angie took the children to Michelle's house to spend the night with Ernie. Johnny also stayed at Michelle's house that evening.

The next morning, July 25, 2002, Angie awoke to find Casey on the couch watching cartoons with Johnny. Johnny told Angie that Casey was not bothering him. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, however, Johnny had begun to think Casey was “cute” and had “ideas” of wanting to have sex with her.

That day, Angie took the children back to her father's house for the day. At one point during the day, Casey, her sister, and other friends, including Angel, were at the home by themselves. Angel noticed Johnny sitting on a chair by the deck and locked the door. Angel later heard knocking, but did not answer the door.

On the evening of July 25, 2002, Johnny joined in a barbecue at Michelle's house. That evening, Casey and her siblings again spent the night with their father at Michelle's house.

The next morning, July 26, 2002, Ernie awoke around 6:00 am to prepare for work. Casey awoke and said she was hungry. Ernie told her that he would take her to her grandfather's house to get breakfast and told her to wait upstairs while he went downstairs to get ready for work. Downstairs, he noticed Johnny asleep on the couch.

Casey did not stay upstairs. Johnny awoke to find Casey standing near the couch watching television and sensed this was his best opportunity to have sex with her. He had decided that to avoid being caught for sexually assaulting her, he would kill her after having sex with her.   Johnny asked Casey if she wanted to go to the glass factory 2 to play games and have fun. Casey said she would go with him and they left. Casey was wearing only her nightgown and underwear. As they walked down Benton Street and into an alley, Casey complained her feet hurt and Johnny picked her up and carried her. When they came to the woods leading to the glass factory, they walked along one of the paths to a sunken pit with brick and concrete walls more than 6 feet high. Casey and Johnny crawled through a small tunnel and dropped into the pit.

Johnny asked Casey if she wanted to see his penis. She said no, but he pulled down his shorts and exposed himself. Casey turned her head away. Johnny then asked Casey to pull down her panties so he could see her vagina. She said no, and Johnny grabbed her underwear, tore it off her, and forced her to the ground. Pinning her to the ground with his chest, Johnny attempted to achieve an erection by rubbing his penis on Casey's leg.   Casey started screaming, kicking, and pushing at Johnny, scratching his chest.

Even though he had not yet raped Casey, Johnny got up and decided to kill her. He grabbed a brick and hit Casey in the head with it at least six times, causing bleeding and bruising.   She was not yet dead or knocked unconscious and started to run around the pit. Johnny hit her with the brick again. She fell to her knees and tried to crawl away from Johnny. He struck her with the brick again, eventually knocking her to the ground and fracturing the right side of her skull. Because she was still moving, Johnny then lifted a basketball-sized boulder and brought it down on the back left side of Casey's head and neck, causing multiple skull fractures. Casey inhaled and exhaled “really fast” and then stopped breathing.

Johnny wiped blood from Casey's face with her underpants and then threw them in an opening in the wall. He buried Casey with rocks, leaves, and debris from the pit. He then went to the nearby Meramec River to wash Casey's blood and other evidence from his body.

The police were looking for Johnny. Officer Chad Lewis met up with him. He had Johnny get in a police car to talk because there were so many people in the area. Without any question being asked, Johnny said he would not hurt “little kids” and that he liked them because he had one of his own. He explained to Officer Louis that he had gone for a swim in the river and explained his route there. Officer Louis thought Johnny's route was unusual because most locals would have cut through the glass factory to get to the river. He asked Johnny if he had been in the glass factory, which Johnny denied. At Officer Louis's request, Johnny agreed to go to the police station to talk in private.

While at the station, Johnny was identified by a witness who had seen him carrying Casey that morning. Around 8:30 am, Detectives Neske and Knieb arrived at the station and took Johnny to a police substation that had an open interview room. On the ride to the substation, Johnny was informed of his rights and indicated he understood them. At the substation, around 9:25 am, Johnny signed a waiver form after again being advised of his rights. Johnny said he wanted to make a statement. For about an hour, Johnny and Detective Neske conversed, and Johnny denied seeing or being with Casey that morning. Even when confronted with accounts of witnesses seeing him with Casey that morning, Johnny continued his denials.

When Detective Neske brought up a hypothetical about Johnny's son being missingJohnny became angry. Johnny said he was being treated for schizophrenia and had been hospitalized for it in the past. Johnny denied that he was hearing voices and said he usually only saw shadows, but he denied having any hallucinations at that time. Johnny said he had not taken any medication for a month and was not suffering from it anymore.

The detectives took a break from talking with Johnny and brought him food. In the early afternoon, about 1:30 pm, Johnny agreed to submit to a rape kit. Before the samples were collected, Detective Neske told Johnny that they would determine his involvement and said he needed “to be a man and tell me where she's at.” Johnny started crying and said, “She's in the old glass factory.”

When asked if Casey was alive, Johnny said she was dead and it was an accident. He said that Casey wanted to go to the glass factory with him and that a rock had fallen from the pit wall when he was climbing it and hit Casey's head, killing her. Johnny said he then “freaked out,” thinking he would not be believed, and buried Casey. He said he went to the river to kill himself, but could not. Johnny drew two maps to help officers find Casey's body, but officers at the scene were unable to find the body and Johnny was taken there.

Before Johnny arrived, however, a private citizen who had joined the search for Casey that morning came upon the tunnel leading to the pit where Johnny had taken Casey. In the middle of the pit, he saw a pile of rocks, blood around the pile, and Casey's foot between the rocks. He saw “a piece of concrete that probably weighed a hundred pounds” where Casey's head would have been. Police arrived and secured the pit.

Johnny was taken to police headquarters. Detective Neske observed the pit and spoke with an officer who was processing evidence at the scene. The evidence officer told Detective Neske that there was no place to climb out of the pit and said there was blood all over the floor of the pit, which contradicted Johnny's story.

Detective Neske went to police headquarters to talk with Johnny. He again advised Johnny of his rights and the waivers, and said he had been to the scene and did not think it was an accident. Johnny then told Detective Neske that once he and Casey were in the pit he had asked Casey if she wanted to see his penis and pulled down his pants. Johnny said that he asked Casey to show him her vagina and pulled off her underwear, which caused her to start “freaking out” and saying she would tell her parents. Johnny said this caused him to start “freaking out” as well, and he picked up the brick and hit her a couple of times in the head, then dropped the “boulder” on her head. He said he wanted her to expose herself so he could masturbate. He said he wiped blood from Casey's face with the underwear, discarded it, buried the body, and went to the river to wash off the blood. Around 8:30 pm, Johnny repeated this version of events in an audiotaped statement. In these statements, Johnny did not admit that he intended to take Casey, rape her, or kill her prior to entering the pit.

Later that night, around 11:30 pm, Detective John Newsham was instructed to take Johnny to the county jail. While Johnny was awaiting booking, Detective Newsham began discussing reading with him. Johnny said he liked to read the Bible and was concerned about his “eternal salvation.” He said he was “fine,” and that he “felt he was going to receive the death penalty and that he wanted to be executed.” He asked Detective Newsham, “[D]o you think I'll ever achieve eternal salvation[?]” Detective Newsham thought that Johnny was indicating he had not been completely honest earlier and he took this as an opportunity to get more information. He told Johnny that to be forgiven for this crime he had to be completely truthful and honest and not leave out details. Johnny admitted he had not been completely honest. Johnny was returned to police headquarters, again waived his rights, and made verbal and audiotaped statements. In these statements, he admitted that he intended to take Casey for the purpose of having sex with her and planned to kill her after doing so.

An autopsy showed that Casey died from blunt force injuries to her head, which caused skull fractures and bruising of her scalp and brain. She also suffered injuries to her arms, shoulders, legs, and back. Her blood was found on Johnny's shirt and a brick and large rock recovered from the pit. Johnny's semen was found on his shorts.

At trial, Johnson did not deny killing Casey, but disputed that he deliberated before doing so.   His diminished capacity defense asserted that he could not deliberate due to mental illness, specifically schizo-affective disorder that caused command hallucinations to rape and kill Casey. In rebuttal, the State's expert testified that Johnson was capable of deliberation and any hallucinations that he may have had at the time were due to methamphetamine intoxication, not psychosis.

The jury found Johnson guilty of all offenses. In the penalty phase, the jury recommended a sentence of death for murder, finding all three statutory aggravators submitted. Johnson was sentenced to death for murder and as a persistent offender to consecutive life sentences for the other charged crimes.ⁱⁱ

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