I sometimes wonder how long Casey will be remembered after all is said and done. I often think about Caylee and how many times her name will parse the lips of polymorphic minions after fate deals a heavy hand to the one who stands accused of snuffing out her young and precious life. Will Casey and Caylee be forever etched into our memories, or will they fall by the wayside as new slaughters arise from the ever growing and eternally glowing embers of man’s inherent evil against man?
If you think memories don’t fade, and that you will never, ever forget Caylee or her mother, here is a murder I vaguely recall from 1983 - two years after I moved to the Orlando area from the pastoral confines of Hunterdon County, in the Garden State. Do I remember much about the case? No, to be perfectly frank, and it took a little reminder in today’s Orlando Sentinel to bring it back to the forefront. What I do remember is just a hint of what transpired in those days and I only remember it because it was in the news today.
Almost 27 years ago, Mary Hammond was murdered in her Orlando home. The 84-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times and displayed signs of manual strangulation. David Johnston, a transient who had been working at a demolition site in the area, was arrested and convicted of her murder. He was promptly sentenced to death. Here are some of the facts surrounding the case. They are more than just circumstantial:
- Johnston was arrested after police saw scratches on his face, blood on his clothes, and noted several discrepancies in the accounts he gave to different officers at the crime scene.
- Prior to the murder, Johnston had contact with the victim due to his employment at a demolition site close to her home.
- Witnesses placed him in Hammond’s apartment 5 days before her murder.
- Just before her murder, witnesses saw him without scratches on his face.
- Johnston’s watch, which was found covered with blood in the victim’s bathroom, was seen on his wrist as late as 1:45am the morning of the murder.
- A butterfly pendant that Johnston was seen wearing as late as 2:00am was found in the victim’s hair.
- A blood-stained butcher knife was found under the victim’s mattress and a footprint that was found outside the kitchen window matched Johnston’s shoe.
- A pillowcase was found at the demolition site that contained a brass teapot, a wine bottle, flatware, tableware, and a silver candlestick - all of which belonged to the victim.
Governor Charlie Crist initially signed David Johnston’s death warrant last year after he lost a host of last minute appeals, including one challenging DNA found at the scene. He was scheduled to die last May, but the Florida Supreme Court delayed the execution while the DNA issue was argued in a lower court. DNA tests performed last summer on crime scene evidence did nothing to exonerate him.
“Even if the results of DNA testing were to show that the blood on Mr. Johnston’s clothes did not belong to the victim and the material under the victim’s fingernails did not belong to him, there is no reasonable probability this result would exonerate him of the crime,” late Orange Circuit Court Judge Bob Wattles wrote last May. A well-respected jurist, Bill Sheaffer whispered the news of his death to me at the January 25 hearing.
You may wonder why I would bring this particular case up. David Eugene Johnston is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6:00pm on March 9 at Florida State Prison near Starke. Poor Mary Hammond died by lethal stabbing and strangulation on November 5, 1983, over 26 years ago. What did she see? What flashed through her mind in those final moments? If you think you see evil in Casey’s eyes, tell me what you see in his.
Mary Hammond? Today, she’d be 110 years old. Besides her family and friends, who in Orlando and elsewhere knows anything about it today? Was her life less important or is it just that memories fade? Time heals all wounds, doesn’t it? If Casey is convicted and sentenced to die, where will you be to celebrate in 26 years? Will you remember? And Caylee? She’d be pushing 30.