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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Ron Battelle

Aired July 27, 2002 - 08:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: A tragic end to a young life. Six-year-old Cassandra Williamson was in the kitchen with her father yesterday morning, but in only a matter of minutes she was gone. A transient who stayed at the father's St. Louis home Thursday night led police to her body. He is now in police custody.

And St. Louis County Police Chief Ron Battelle is joining us this morning to give us the latest on this.

Chief, thanks for being with us.

CHIEF RON BATTELLE, ST. LOUIS COUNTY POLICE: You're welcome. I'm happy to be here.

CALLAWAY: I know that the suspect, Johnny Johnson, is being described as a transient. But this is not someone that the family was unfamiliar with. They did know Johnny Johnson, right?

BATTELLE: Yes, they had knowledge of him and who he was and, you know, it was, I gather it was an on again off again relationship with him, depending if he was around or not.

CALLAWAY: Right.

BATTELLE: But they knew him.

CALLAWAY: I just wanted to make sure people understood that he wasn't just someone roaming down the street they allowed into their home, that he was someone that the family was familiar with.

BATTELLE: Yes.

CALLAWAY: I think that's been portrayed inaccurately. And Chief, now, has Johnny Johnson actually confessed to this? I know that he led you to the body, is that right?

BATTELLE: That's true and he is cooperating with us, has made statements and the cooperation level increased more as the night went along. And about the only thing I can tell you about it, other than implicating himself, obviously, was that he indicated he had this planned. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing that just happened. He planned it out and what happened went according to this plan.

CALLAWAY: Did he say how long he had been planning this? Was this something when he asked to stay with the family that he had planned all along?

BATTELLE: At what point he put this plan in motion or made, developed the plan I don't know. But certainly that morning what occurred was according to a plan that he had laid out at some time previously.

CALLAWAY: Now, I know that the family would never have let him into the home if they suspected that he had any kind of violent tendencies. Does he have any type of record?

BATTELLE: He does have a criminal record and we're still sorting that out. He has a conviction for burglary several years ago and, but there's other things that may or may not be there. We're sorting that out right now and as we do the background investigation on him.

CALLAWAY: Right. Chief, what led you to him?

BATTELLE: Well, just the fact that he was the last one seen with Casey. You know, he was seen carrying her piggyback down the roadway and, of course, that's when she turned up missing. And when we responded to the scene, we spotted him on the roadway and he was wet and said he had just went for a swim in the Merrimac River. And, of course, we took him up to our substation and interviewed him as a witness at that point and he denied any knowledge of what occurred. But as time went on, he came across with the information that he was involved.

CALLAWAY: Chief, what have you charged him with as of now, as of this morning?

BATTELLE: We're going to seek charges this morning for murder and possibly other charges. We have arranged to meet with the prosecuting attorney this morning and those charges will be issued and bond set and he'll probably be arraigned Monday.

CALLAWAY: All right, Chief, and will we hear any more from you about his alleged confession to this?

BATTELLE: Normally we don't detail confessions to the news media. But I'm sure as you follow the case in court, that'll come out.

CALLAWAY: All right, Chief, thank you very much.

That's Chief Ron Battelle.

BATTELLE: You're welcome.

CALLAWAY: And congratulations on making an arrest in this case so very quickly. And thank you for being with us.

BATTELLE: OK. We're happy about the arrest, but we would have rather have found Casey alive.

CALLAWAY: Of course you would. We all would.

BATTELLE: Yes.

CALLAWAY: Thank you, Chief.

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