Double murderer Raymond Eugene Johnson executed in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has carried out its second execution of 2026, giving a lethal injection to a Tulsa man who set his ex-girlfriend and her baby daughter on fire.

Raymond Eugene Johnson, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. on Thursday, May 14, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He apologized for his actions in his last words, media witnesses said.

"One day, I hope you can forgive me,” he said.

He struck Brooke Whitaker, 24, repeatedly with a hammer inside her house in Tulsa on June 23, 2007. He then doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. He confessed to police that he told her she deserved to die.

Johnson had met Brooke at Escapades, where she was a dancer, but resented she continued to work there, attorneys for the state told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. He had been banned from the club. The attack came when Brooke got home after working a late shift and picking up Kya at her mom's house.

Brooke died at a hospital from the beating and smoke inhalation after firefighters found her inside the house. The baby, Kya Whitaker, died inside the house from the flames and heat of the fire. Kya was 7 months old.

Brooke's three older children were with their fathers at the time.

A Tulsa County jury in 2009 found Johnson guilty of first-degree murder in both deaths and chose the death penalty as punishment.

The jury also found him guilty of first-degree arson.

Johnson had denied that he intended to kill the baby. Prosecutors at trial presented evidence to the jury that they said proved he poured gasoline on the baby.

The Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0 on April 8 to deny him clemency despite his claims that he is a changed man. He did not seek any last-minute stays in court.

"Justice has been served," Attorney General Gentner Drummond said after the execution.

About the execution, Brooke's aunt, Angie Short, said, "This didn't bring them back. But we’ll no longer have to see his face on TV. He’s no longer associated with Brooke and Kya. And now I think we can finally begin to heal after 20 years.”

She also said it was ridiculous that the family had to wait 20 years to see justice in a cut-and-dried case.

Johnson had killed before.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter for fatally shooting Clarence Ray Oliver, 26, in far southeast Oklahoma City on Sept. 11, 1995.

He went to prison in 1996 on his manslaughter conviction. He was released in 2005.

For his last meal Wednesday, Johnson requested a 12-piece boneless chicken, a pint of gizzards, a side of fried pickles, four packets of hot sauce and four packets of ranch dressing.

The lethal injection was one of the quickest since executions resumed in Oklahoma in 2021, after a hiatus of more than six years. It took only 11 minutes to complete. The Department of Corrections director, Justin Farris, described it afterward as unremarkable.

In Oklahoma City, death penalty opponents gathered outside the governor's mansion for a vigil at the time of the execution.

“Raymond Johnson lived a hard life, culminating in the tragic death of two people, said the Rev. Don Heath, past president of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Heath attended the vigil. He said Johnson had "repented and found redemption on death row."

"The state has desecrated this beautiful spring day by executing a good man and calling it justice," he said.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)