A man who kidnapped a 6-year-old girl and beat her to death in an abandoned Missouri factory was sentenced to death Tuesday night, KSDK reported.
According to authorities, Casey Williamson’s body was found on July 26, 2002 in an abandoned glass factory, located less than a mile from the home of the little girl’s relatives.
Johnny Johnson confessed to beating the girl to death with bricks after attempting to rape her.
Casey’s mother had been best friends in childhood with Johnson’s older sister, so Johnson was invited to a barbecue the night before the murder, Casey’s family let him sleep on a sofa in the house where they also slept. .
Death penalty advocates say Johnson had schizophrenia and should not have been executed, authorities say.
In a statement, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said the courts had found Johnson to be competent at the time of the crime and today.
Many protested outside the Bonne Terre prison on the day of Johnson’s execution, but the efforts did not prevent his death, as he received a lethal injection of pentobarbital at a Bonne Terre state prison and was pronounced dead at 6: 33 p.m. CDT.
He confessed to beating the girl to death with bricks after attempting to rape her.
