Another Baby Gone from us..

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Suspect Charged With Abduction, Slaying of 6-Year-Old Girl
Sunday, July 28, 2002

VALLEY PARK, Mo. ? A transient was accused Saturday of abducting, trying to rape and ultimately slaying a 6-year-old girl who he allegedly snatched from her father's home.

St. Louis County warrants charge Johnny A. Johnson, 24, with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping and attempted forcible rape in Friday's killing of Cassandra "Casey" Williamson, who vanished from the home where Johnson had spent the night as a guest.

Cassandra's body was found blocks away at an abandoned glass factory where police say Johnson sometimes slept. Johnson told police the girl's location, investigators said.

Johnson was held without bond Saturday in the St. Louis County Jail in Clayton. It was not immediately clear when he would make his first court appearance.

An autopsy Saturday showed Cassandra died after being hit by a blunt object, St. Louis County Police Maj. Jerry Lee said, but he refused to give details. He said tests to determine whether the girl was sexually assaulted were pending.

Police Chief Ron Battelle told NBC's "Today" show Saturday that Johnson confessed to the slaying. He declined to comment on a motive.

Battelle said Johnson was the last person seen with Cassandra, and he was seen carrying her piggyback down the street Friday.

"We took him to our station and began interviewing him at that point in time, and as they went on he admitted to his involvement in the murder," Battelle said.

A police news release on the charges against Johnson did not specify how Cassandra died, saying only "detectives from our agency were able to build a strong case against (Johnson)."

"We're basically not releasing anything beyond the news release," said Mason Keller, a St. Louis County police spokesman.

Johnson spent the night at a home shared by Cassandra's father, Ernie Williamson, and a roommate. Johnson had stayed up drinking with the roommate, the father said.

Ernie Williamson and Cassandra's mother, Angela Williamson, had separated but still spent some nights together.

Ernie Williamson said he had only known Johnson a few days, and that Johnson was sleeping on the couch Friday morning. Authorities said Cassandra was in the kitchen about 7:30 a.m. with her father.

Williamson said he was about to pour his daughter a bowl of cereal and left the room briefly to go the bathroom. When he returned, the girl, barefoot and dressed in a white nightgown, had disappeared.

The father said Johnson was also gone. About a half-hour later, Williamson said, Johnson returned to the house, wet and muddy, and said he had been swimming in the nearby river. Police began questioning him after he returned.

(She's out of the hands of Evil and into the hands of the Father where she is safe now for all eternity. You are a beautiful little girl Cassandra. Be happy with all the angels now..and all the little ones that have gone before you..)