Missouri
Missouri Executes Man for Murder of Girl, 6
A man who abducted a 6-year-old Missouri girl and beat her to death at an abandoned factory decades ago was put to death Tuesday evening, shortly after the US Supreme Court rejected a request to block the lethal injection over arguments he was mentally incompetent. Johnny Johnson, 45, received a a lethal dose of pentobarbital at a state prison in Bonne Terre and was pronounced dead at 6:33pm CDT, authorities said. He was convicted of the July 2002 killing of Casey Williamson in the small St. Louis-area suburb of Valley Park. Johnson had expressed remorse in a brief handwritten statement released by the Department of Corrections hours before the execution, the AP reports. “God Bless. Sorry to the people and family I hurt,” Johnson’s statement said.
The top court, with three justices dissenting, said earlier in a statement that it was rejecting the request to stay the execution plans. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was joined by two other justices in the dissent. In recent appeals, Johnson’s attorneys have said the inmate has had delusions about the devil using his death to bring about the end of the world. “The Court today paves the way to execute a man with documented mental illness before any court meaningfully investigates his competency to be executed,” Sotomayor and the other dissenting justices wrote in a statement when the stay was rejected by the wider court. “There is no moral victory in executing someone who believes Satan is killing him to bring about the end of the world.”
The girl’s disappearance from her hometown of Valley Park on July 26, 2002, set off a frantic search before her body was ultimately found. Casey’s mother had been best friends in childhood with Johnson’s older sister. After Johnson attended a barbecue the night before the killing, Casey’s family let him sleep on a couch in the home where they also were sleeping. In the morning, Johnson lured the girl—still in her nightgown—to the abandoned factory, even carrying her on his shoulders on the walk to the dilapidated site, according to court documents. When he tried to sexually assault her, Casey screamed and tried to break free, they said. He then killed her with a brick and a large rock, then washed off in the nearby Meramec River. Johnson confessed that same day to the crimes, according to authorities.
At Johnson’s trial, defense lawyers had presented testimony showing that their client—an ex-convict who had been released from a state psychiatric facility six months before the crime—had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication and was acting strangely in the days before the slaying. In June, the Missouri Supreme Court denied an appeal seeking to block the execution on arguments that Johnson had schizophrenia that prevented him from understanding the link between his crime and the punishment. (Read more Missouri stories.)
Missouri
Firebug sentenced to 12 years in prison for torching occupied Missouri home using Takis chips
She took the meaning of Takis Fuego literally.
A Missouri woman was sentenced to 12 years behind bars after she intentionally torched a home full of people using a bag of Takis tortilla chips.
Patricia Williams, 44, was handed her sentence Tuesday after pleading guilty to first-degree arson for sparking the Aug. 11, 2023, blaze in Greene County, multiple outlets reported.
Williams admitted to authorities that she used the spicy snack to start the fire knowing it would combust due to its high grease content, according to court documents.
The convicted arsonist was captured on surveillance footage purchasing $2 of gasoline at a nearby gas station before entering a home and pouring the petrol from a soda bottle onto a pile of clothes and all over the laundry room floor.
The firebug then ignited the Takis chips and tossed the flaming bag onto the gasoline-soaked garments, setting the house ablaze, according to court documents.
Three people managed to escape the home without injury and reported Williams to the police after witnessing her brazen deed.
The pyro was later discovered with soot still on her face and was booked at Greene County Jail, local outlets reported.
Police also found Williams had several warrants out for her arrest, court documents show.
The relationship between Williams and the victims remains unclear.
Missouri
Justin Bensley selected as December 2024 Missouri Department of Natural Resources Team Member of the Month
JEFFERSON CITY, MO, JAN. 8, 2025 – Justin Bensley, an archeologist with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Missouri State Parks, has been selected as the department’s Team Member of the Month for December 2024. He was selected for his service to the department and his efforts while reviewing cultural resource impacts related to projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
In January 2024, Bensley’s section learned of approximately 20 American Rescue Plan Act projects that needed to be reviewed for cultural resource impacts. Most of the projects were for water and wastewater improvements, so each one also need an architectural survey. All of the projects had to be reviewed and any issues resolved so they could go out for bid by the end of the fiscal year, which was June 30, 2024.
“Justin turned out to be a miracle worker,” said Kim Dillon, a natural resources manager who nominated Bensley for the award. “His work resulted in most of the projects being reviewed, modified and approved just before the end of the fiscal year.”
Due to a vacancy, Bensley was the only staff archeologist at the time, so he was tasked with evaluating each of these projects on his own or with archeological contractors on the larger jobs. In addition, he had to consult with the Osage Nation Tribal Historic Preservation Office on the projects, which was a new process. Completing the reviews required Bensley to coordinate between each facility, archeological contractors, planners and the Missouri Office of Administration while also holding many meetings, making countless phone calls and preparing numerous documents.
“I honestly don’t know how he did it, but we are so thankful that he did,” said Dillon.
Bensley joined the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in March 2021 and resides in Columbia.
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