Mo. Man Who Murdered 6-Year-Old Girl in 2002 Is Executed

A Missouri death row inmate was executed despite his attorneys' attempts to contest capital punishment on the grounds of his mental illness.

On Tuesday evening, convicted killer Johnny A. Johnson, 45, died by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre, according to the Associated Press, the Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Johnson was convicted of the 2002 murder and attempted rape of 6-year-old Cassandra "Casey" Williamson in St. Louis County, PEOPLE previously reported, citing court records. 

In a statement Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson called Johnson’s crime “one of the most horrific murders that has come across my desk.”  

“Casey was an innocent young girl who bravely fought Johnson until he took her life,” he wrote. “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.”

In 2005, a jury found Johnson guilty of numerous offenses, including first-degree murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping and attempted forcible rape. He was sentenced to death.

According to the AP, the Kansas City Star, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Johnson expressed remorse in the moments before his execution.

“God Bless,” reads his final statement. “Sorry to the people and family I hurt.”

Johnson was executed following a failed bid to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a stay of execution, according to the news outlets. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, along with Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Johnson's lawyers have argued that his diagnosis of schizophrenia prevents him from understanding the connection between his execution and the crime he committed, the Kansas City Star reports. In a recent filing obtained by the outlet, Johnson’s attorneys said their client believes his execution is the result of Satan “using” the State of Missouri to execute him in order to bring about the end of the world and that the voice of Satan confirmed this plan to him.

According to the AP, at Johnson’s trial, testimony provided by his defense attorneys revealed the ex-convict had been released from a state psychiatric facility about six months before the killing and had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication, resulting in a change in behavior.

However, Gov. Parson announced Monday that the execution would move forward after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled, and a federal appeals court upheld, that “Johnson was competent at the time and is competent now.”

The victim's mother, Angie Wideman, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week she was “ready to put the whole thing behind her.”

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Johnson's death makes him the 16th prisoner to be executed in the U.S. this year.

In July 2002, then 24-year-old Johnson was staying at a friend's house in Valley Park, where Casey and her father were also sleeping over, when the girl disappeared, records show. 

Authorities said Johnson lured the girl out of the home and down the street, where he led her through an abandoned glass factory, tunnels and a sunken pit, according to court records. When Johnson tried to rape the girl, who fought back, he killed her by striking her several times with bricks and rocks, leaving her with multiple skull fractures.

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"He buried Casey with rocks, leaves and debris from the pit," the records state. "He then went to the nearby Meramec River to wash Casey's blood and other evidence from his body."

After the girl's parents reported her missing, a search involving several law enforcement agencies was launched, FOX4 KC reported. The girl's body was later found less than a mile from her home.

Johnson was quickly arrested and later confessed to the crime.

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