Remember the small ones

Kya Whitaker was an infant, not even a toddler when her life was taken from her. She was just seven months old. Cruelly, this world allowed a monster into her life. She was the daughter of Brooke Whitaker, a woman who chose to trust the wrong human being and found out he wasn’t much of a human being after all.

Kya hadn’t been alone in this world; she had three loving siblings as well. Siblings that luckily did not get brutally murdered by the monster who took the lives of mother and daughter so cruelly. Thankfully, they were not home when this day turned into a bloody, burnt affair.

In February of 2007, Raymond Eugene Johnson moved in with Brooke Whitaker. Raymond was Kya’s biological father. A fact he was later to deny during his appeals. This didn’t help his image, folks. This day and age doesn’t seem to foster enough feelings for one child’s safety or well-fair when one of the parents loses their ever-loving shit. And Raymond wasn’t exactly a model human being to start with.

Raymond had been in prison for murder before, Folks. Well, let’s just mince words here, it was pled down to Manslaughter, and he received only twenty years for it. Around 1995 he went to prison for murder of a man by the name of Clarence Oliver and was released around 2005. Yes, he was already a ready-made monster and no child’s heart was going to temper the rage that was fueling that man’s desire for bonding with the fires of hell it seemed like. Folks, if he had gotten a stiffer sentence for his first murder, this murder might not have taken place, and Kya might have been fathered by someone not so homicidal?

Raymond, as I mentioned, was a ready-made monster. He had a history of violence in the 1990’s stretched from 1992 until the fatal shooting of Oliver in 1995. What information that could be gleaned from public records was simply this, Raymond had been drinking with Oliver that fatal night in 1995. An argument ensued and Raymond shot Oliver several times through the passenger window. The car was found crashed in a ditch with Oliver in the driver's seat. Folks, he was caught not long after and was linked circumstantially to another case of a shooting death, that one was not mentioned again in his record that I could find. But with his history of violence, maybe there was thought this was enough to put him away. Turns out twenty years wasn’t long enough to cage this monster.

Brooke wanted the best for her children; she also was a woman. Woman will sometimes believe even if a man wasn’t good in the past they can change their ways. I was taught if a person tells you who they are in thought and in deed, believe them. By April of 2007 Brooke and Raymond were having the kind of difficulties to scare anyone, not just a woman, Folks. She was abused, according to affidavits filed with the court later, when she obtained a protective order against Raymond. She took the kids, and Brooke moved in with her mother for two weeks.

During this time there were death threats and Raymond stalked her. This protective order didn’t work out so well. Worse, Brooke moved back in with the creep around the first week of May. This made the protective order useless; she violated her own protective order and when no one showed in court in May of 2007 it was dismissed. Oh, sweet Brooke, why did you listen to him? Kya and her siblings needed you!

During this time Raymond also had a relationship with one Jennifer Walton. Jennifer became pregnant with Raymond’s child around the first or second week of June and he suddenly wanted to move out of Brooke’s home. He got around fast, didn’t he? Folks, these women were fooled by such a demon in disguise. I can’t imagine the surprise that came when they began to realize what they had been tricked into by this monster.

Jennifer had arranged a place for Raymond to stay. On June 22, 2007 Raymond asked Jennifer to come get him and take him to get some of his clothing from Brooke’s place. He wanted to do it when Brooke wasn’t home to prevent a “fuss”. We all know how something like this can go badly in so many ways so very quickly.

Raymond had Jennifer drop him off on a side street from Brooke’s. Ok, Folks, I get not wanting to cause an “fuss” but this reeked of not wanting to be seen for other reasons.

Jennifer didn’t stay around, she went back to her mother’s. She wasn’t aware of her new beau was about to get into and cause a whole world of trouble for her.

Around 1 am on the 23rd of June 2007, the early morning hours of the next day, Raymond called Jennifer and told her that he was eating at Denny’s while he waited for Brooke to get home. Here’s the problem, Folks, he’d been dropped off around 10:30 pm the night before. A woman with children is going to put an infant like Kya to bed at a reasonable time.

During the day on the 23rd of June, 2007, Raymond made several calls to Jennifer. One telling her Brooke was already dead by a gunshot from one of Raymond’s friends, another call was to tell Jennifer his friend was thinking of burning down the house. He told Jennifer during this particular to come pick him up at the school near Brooke’s house. He, however, did not show at the school.

Raymond called and had her meet him at a vacant house on a street right behind where Brooke lived. It wasn’t close enough for Jennifer to see the smoke of the fire, she wasn’t going to need too. When he got in the car, he had blood on him and smelled of gasoline. At this point, Folks, I would have been looking for an exit ramp out of this relationship. If she didn’t know what he was when she got involved with him, surely she had a pretty damn good idea what was in her future if she mis stepped with him.

Together, they went back to Jennifer’s friend’s house. This is where Raymond took a shower and tried to dispose of evidence. He had taken things like money that was bloody. He washed the blood from the money. Jennifer watched as this all occurred before her disbelieving and frightened eyes. Folks, Jennifer was witnessing her own possible future if Raymond tired of her and her child.

Meanwhile, Firefighters were battling a fire at Brooke’s home. The fire took the life of Kya, the other children were not home. It was on the way to the hospital the paramedics discovered Brooke had been beaten on the head with a hammer. Brooke later died at the hospital.

During the investigation, a cell phone was found. This phone belonged to Brooke but had been used to make two calls to Jennifer that day. Folks, this was only one link back to the monster that poor gasoline in a house where a seven-month-old baby was and lit the match.

Jennifer took him to a dumpster where he would dispose of more evidence. Bloody clothing, Brooke’s wallet, and a claw hammer, all this in a bag waited for the police. Jennifer showed them where the dumpster was later. Blood was also found on the inside passenger door handle of Jennifer’s car. The monster had left a big trail for the police. Folks, Raymond kept his word about killing Brooke.

Raymond was caught at the friend’s house by police. During questioning, he admitted there being a fight between the two. He stated she grabbed a knife to stab him, so he grabbed a hammer and hit her in the head. After she begged for help, he didn’t bother to get, he doused the house, her body and the room the baby was in with gasoline and lit it up. Folks, the heinousness of this crime got him the death penalty for both mother and child.

Right now, he sits on death row in Oklahoma, as of March 2026. There is no hope of clemency. The Date as of the writing of this is April 2026 for his hearing before the pardons and parole board. The Attorney General, Gentner Drummond is not recommending clemency for this monster. No one has expressed sympathy for him, other than those that represent him. They are doing their job, Folks, and I don’t envy them the path they walk. Because in the end, there will likely be no stays, no change in his sentence, and he will walk that long cold path to the death chamber. They will have to watch as their client pays for his sins in the manner this state has chosen for him, come May 2026, if no intervention takes place on his behalf. Folks, death has come to call.