The state of Oklahoma has just carried out its most recent execution. Raymond Johnson, a convicted murderer sentenced for burning alive his own 7-month-old daughter and her mother. After spending 17 years on death row, he was finally executed by lethal injection. In this video, I’ll explain how this horrific crime happened, how the execution unfolded,  and what his final words were before he died.

Raymond Eugene Johnson was born on March 26th, 1974 in Oklahoma City. And from a very young age, he began building an extensive criminal record marked by drugs and violence. His first killing occurred in 1995 when, at just 21 years old, he murdered Clarence Ray Oliver following an argument in which he shot him while Oliver was trying to flee in his vehicle.

Although he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, he served only nine before being granted parole in 2005. Raymond arrived in Tulsa in 2005 hoping to start over and keep his past hidden from everyone. It was there that he met Brooke Whitaker while she was working at a restaurant. Brooke was a 22-year-old single mother of three, and over time, the two began a relationship.

 The relationship moved quickly, and by the end of 2006, Johnson had already moved into Whitaker’s home where they lived together for several months. At first, Johnson treated Brooke’s children well and appeared to be a loving and kind person to everyone around him. During that time, Whitaker became pregnant with Johnson’s child, and the couple had a daughter named Kaya.

However, life together soon became troubled. Johnson abused Whitaker and her children, failed to keep a stable job, and continued to be involved with drugs. The final straw was his constant infidelity. He even got another woman pregnant, which ultimately led Whittaker to end the relationship. Whittaker decided to ask him to leave the house, and Johnson ended up living on the streets with no other option but to stay at a homeless shelter.

It was there that he began developing a deep hatred and resentment toward Whittaker. On the night of June 23rd, 2007 in Tulsa, Johnson went to the home on East Newton Street where his ex-girlfriend Brooke Whittaker lived. Once there, he remained outside the house waiting for her to return from her work shift during the early hours of the morning.

 Whittaker’s older children usually stayed with their biological fathers so she could work, but baby Kaya stayed with her because she was still nursing and could not be left alone. When Whittaker finally arrived home, a heated argument broke out between the two inside the house. The verbal confrontation quickly escalated into physical violence.

According to court records, Johnson had already stalked the victim and threatened to kill her on multiple occasions before that night. In the middle of the altercation, Johnson grabbed a metal claw hammer that was inside the home and began striking Whittaker with extreme force. The attack was brutal and focused directly on the woman’s head, leaving her with virtually no chance to defend herself against the ferocity and speed of the initial blows delivered by the attacker.

Despite the catastrophic nature of her head injuries, Brooke Whittaker did not die immediately after the hammer attack. Prosecutors later determined that  Johnson kept her in a state of agony and physical torture for approximately 6 hours. A prolonged period during which the victim remained conscious despite her critical condition.

During those 6 hours of agony, Whittaker used what little strength she had left to desperately beg for her life, and even more urgently for the life of her daughter. Fully aware of the imminent danger and suffering unimaginable pain, she pleaded with  Johnson to stop the assault and show mercy to baby Kaya.

Among her  pleas, Whitaker begged Johnson to call 911 so she could receive medical assistance, or at the very least allow her mother to come pick up the baby. She also pleaded with him to think about her other three children who fortunately were not inside the home at the time. Johnson ignored every one of Whitaker’s pleas and chose to escalate the crime into an act of total destruction.

He left the house and went to a tool shed located in the backyard to retrieve a gasoline can, then returned inside with the deliberate intention of setting the home on fire in order to erase evidence of the attack. With the accelerant in his possession, Johnson proceeded to pour gasoline over Whitaker’s body throughout several areas of the house, and  fatally inside the bedroom where baby Kaya was sleeping in her crib.

 To ignite the flames, Johnson set a kitchen  towel on fire and threw it directly onto Whitaker’s wounded body. Immediately afterward, the attacker fled the scene as the fire rapidly spread through the wooden structure, leaving both mother and daughter trapped inside the flames while they were still alive. Tulsa firefighters were alerted to the blaze at 11:11 a.m.

, >>  >> and upon entering the home engulfed in thick smoke, they discovered a devastating scene. Near the entrance, they found the body of baby Kaya, and in another room they discovered Brooke Whitaker beneath her daughter’s bed in what appeared to have been a final and desperate attempt to save her. Investigators determined that Whitaker managed to open the bedroom door, remove the baby from from crib, and try to escape with her, but tragically neither of them survived the fire.

The autopsy results confirmed that Whitaker died at the hospital from a combination of blunt force head trauma and smoke inhalation. However, it was determined that baby Kaya died exclusively from extreme thermal burns. Raymond Eugene Johnson was arrested the day after the murders. At the time of his arrest, police recovered a garbage bag from a dumpster containing boots, blood-stained clothing, Whitaker’s wallet with her driver’s license inside, and the claw hammer used in the attack.

The trial of Raymond Eugene Johnson officially began in June 2009 in Tulsa County. After reviewing the forensic evidence and hearing testimony from first responders, a jury found him guilty on two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Brooke Whitaker and her daughter Kaya, as well as one count of first-degree arson, ultimately sentencing him to death.

During his time on death row at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Johnson claimed to have undergone a radical transformation, becoming an active member of the Church of the Brethren in Indiana. His attorney stated that he became  a role model for other inmates, leading religious services and writing poems and spiritual devotionals.

On April 8th, 2026, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously, 5 to 0, to reject Raymond Eugene Johnson’s clemency request. With that decision, his execution by lethal injection was officially scheduled for May 14th, 2026. Johnson woke up today at 6:00 a.m. and received visits from one of his sons and a spiritual advisor.

He received his last meal a day before the execution. For it, he requested a combo consisting of 12 boneless chicken pieces, a half liter of gizzards, an order of fried pickles, four packets of hot sauce, and four packets of ranch dressing. Raymond Eugene Johnson, 52, was transferred to the execution chamber at 9:30 a.m.

 and was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. this Thursday, May 14th, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. According to official reports, he showed no signs of pain or suffering during the execution. There were no reports of final words at the time of his execution, but his last known statement during a hearing was, “I apologize. No excuses, no justifications, a sincere apology.

And to know it’s sincere, look at my actions. Look at my life. Look at how I’ve changed. I’m living a life full of remorse. I’m living it.”