An Oklahoma man is scheduled to be executed on May 14, 2026. He was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend, Brooke Whitaker, and her seven-month-old daughter, Kya. He set their home on fire nearly 20 years ago. Whitaker died from severe head injuries and smoke inhalation, and her daughter died from fatal burns.
According to The Associated Press, Raymond Johnson is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on May 14.
“I know the love shared because to know Brooke and Kyla was to love them,” Johnson said during his final hearing. “Today, I sit here responsible for their deaths.”
Family members of Brooke Whitaker were emotional after the news and urged officials to proceed with the execution.
“Executing him will not give me my mom or sister back; it will not take away almost 20 years of pain,” Logan Kleck, Whitaker’s oldest daughter, wrote in a letter to the board. “What it will do is finally stop him from continuing to hurt us,” she added.
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In early April, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, by a full vote, denied Johnson clemency after he expressed remorse and issued a public apology during the court hearing. The board voted 5–0 against granting clemency for Johnson, who was convicted of the killings in Tulsa.
Brook Whitaker’s daughter, present during the clemency discussion, asked the Pardon and Parole Board to firmly reject any mercy for the execution.
“I’m 24, but here today as that five-year-old little girl, begging you not to grant clemency to Raymond Johnson,” she wrote. “Don’t let him have this too,” she read from a statement to the panel during the hearing.
Previously, Johnson’s legal team argued he had reformed over the last 20 years. However, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Crabb told the board his prison behavior does not show real change or remorse.
She said his claims of change were not unusual and noted he had been involved in church activities since his youth, while still committing crimes.
On Thursday, May 14, 2026, Oklahoma death row inmate Raymond Eugene Johnson, age 52, is
scheduled to be executed for the 2007 Tulsa County murders of Brooke Whitaker, age 24, and
her daughter 7-month-old Kya. Johnson’s execution will take place at the Oklahoma State… pic.twitter.com/fbW4V3CZdy— Diocese of Tulsa (@DioceseofTulsa) May 13, 2026
The 52-year-old had a prior criminal record, including a 1996 manslaughter conviction. He served nine years of a 20-year sentence in that case.
Prosecutors claimed the 52-year-old attacked Whitaker with a metal claw hammer after an early morning argument at their Oklahoma home. She suffered multiple skull fractures and more than 20 wounds to her face and scalp. Despite this, she remained conscious and pleaded for her life and her daughter’s safety.
“She begged him to call 911. She begged him to let her mom get baby Kya. She begged him to think of her children,” the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said in the records that were prepared for his clemency hearing.
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As the fight escalated and Raymond Johnson became violent, he got a gas can from a backyard shed, poured gasoline around the house and on Whitaker, lit a dishtowel on fire, and threw it at her before leaving.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond described Johnson as “a cruel murderer who caused unimaginable pain and suffering to his victims.” The execution would make Johnson the second death-row inmate in Oklahoma in 2026.
