Ronisha Johnson
Appearances
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
A couple days later, Gina's body was found at a dump site across the state line in Pennsylvania, not too far from Austin town. But we learned when they found the body hit a driver's route had included that the apartment complex from Austin Town.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
So the autopsy was done on Gina's body a few days later in the Erie County coroner's office. And she died from a stab wound to her chest cavity. So they had some superficial marks on her face where maybe some of the trash had, you know, kind of
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
He had no regard for human life and he wanted to watch it being taken from somebody. He wanted to see what it was like to kill someone and see the life taken from their eyes.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
injured her face and other parts of her body, but they could tell that was post-mortem or after death, but her official cause of death was from a stab wound to the chest.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Ronisha Johnson was a neighbor of Gina and her family. and she knew her from being around the apartment complex. She would go over to her house. Ronisha Johnson had a young child, and so Gina would go over and visit Ronisha and play with the baby.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
When they first attempted to go to Ronisha's apartment to find out what happened at her apartment or if Gina ever showed up to her apartment when Jackie reported her, they didn't find her there.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
I believe it's a couple days later. They get into Ronisha Johnson's apartment and they start looking around and they... Use one of those lights that you can see blood and they find an area on the carpet and on the floor that looks like it's been cleaned that has evidence of blood on it.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
There's a point in the investigation where the Austin Township Police Department finally talked to Ronisha Johnson. who lived in the apartment where Gina was last suspected to go. And after speaking with her, the suspect became a Ricky Williams IV.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Ricky Williams had been in and out of the justice system. He has a long juvenile record. Some of his siblings, which are all named Ricky Williams as well, also have records, both adult and juvenile records. I'm not sure about what his family life was, but the police were very familiar with Ricky Williams at the time for having so many different police contacts with him.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
But it is known that he had been dating another person another woman inside Compass West Apartments. But they had been on the outs, and she had actually got evicted because of what happened between her and Ricky Williams at the time. So he was trespassed from the apartment complex, and he wasn't supposed to be on the ground.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
And Ronisha even told the police that she took her son and when she got away from Ricky and went to either her mom's house or some relative's house to kind of hide out because she was afraid that Ricky Williams was going to come back to her apartment.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
that it was actually Ronisha Johnson who killed Gina, and he simply held Ronisha's hands around the knife while Ronisha stabbed.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
He made a statement that said Ronisha... essentially had it out for Gina and that he was simply helping Ronisha complete the job. He wouldn't really take any of the blame himself. He wanted it to seem like Ronisha had planned this and laid out this plan and roped him into helping her.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
We talked to Ronisha, and Ronisha's version of the events and Ricky's history led us to believe Ronisha and that he was very violent and manipulative, and that she was afraid not only for herself, but for her child who was in the apartment.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
And the way the physical evidence was laid out, where they had been sitting prior to this happening, the photos Ricky was taking, I believe they were on Ronisha's phone, of her and Gina sitting there against the wall of the couch crying. It looked and followed Ronisha's version of the events, that they were both,
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Based on Ronisha's statements and the physical evidence, which included photographs that Ricky himself had taken while the crime was being committed, the police and prosecutors had a pretty good understanding...
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Ricky Williams followed Gina into Ronisha Johnson's apartment and it started this long drawn out process of Ricky kind of tormenting both Ronisha and Gina and eventually leading to the stabbing death of Gina Berger that day. He was
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
saying things to them and talking about hurting them and threatening to hurt Monisha, threatening to kill Gina Berger's mother if he didn't, if they didn't do what he wanted. He used a knife and stabbed Gina Berger, then engaged Monisha Johnson to help him wrap up the body, put it in this pack and pray. and had Ronisha Johnson help him carry it out to the dumpster and put it in the dumpster.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Jackie... Botcher actually described to the police that she had seen Ricky Williams when she had made the missing person report. She had seen Ricky Williams putting something in the dumpster during that time frame. And he actually came up to her car with her sister in it and said, do you want to buy a pack and play or a playpen for any of your kids? Because I have one we're trying to get rid of.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
He then made Ronisha go back into the apartment and clean up. By now, you're probably thinking that Ricky Williams is a complete psychopath. And if you do think that, you're right.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
I think Ricky committed this crime just because he wanted to. He wanted to see what it was like to kill someone and see the life taken from there. you know, just taken from their eyes. I think he was, he's just kind of, I don't want to say mental, but I think he just, he has no regard for human life. And he wanted to watch it being taken from somebody.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
It takes four years for this to get to the trial stage because it's a capital case or a death penalty case because he's then appointed two lawyers who then file all these motions to essentially start doing their investigation of Ricky Williams.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
So a lot of time is spent on death penalty cases doing what's called mitigation because they're trying to come up with reasons to tell the jury why the death penalty should not be imposed. So they do psychological tests on the defendant. They look into any prior psychological tests that he's already had, maybe in juvenile court, any counseling he's ever done. They look into his schooling records.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
or prison, they want to see what he's done in those places, so they want to see those records. And they're trying to present or put together their best case to present to a jury why the death penalty should not be imposed.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
During the pre-trial hearings, whenever we would have a hearing like a motion to suppress, where we would have witnesses or we would present evidence, Ricky would be smiling and staring at the victim's family, kind of smirking during the evidence like he enjoyed listening to all the evidence.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Yeah, despite all of that behavior by the defendant, the family was still okay with accepting the plea. I think everyone got the feeling that because he seemed to be enjoying listening to all the evidence, that if we didn't let him listen again during the trial, it was going to be more punishment for him.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
So if we got him to admit and take a life without parole and not be able to have to sit through him smirking during all the trial, that would benefit the victims more than having to watch him.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
My name is Dawn Cantalamessa, and in 2018, I was Chief Trial Counsel for for the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office in Ohio.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
In 2014, Gina Berger was 16 years old and living with her biological mother after having lived in Texas with her adoptive mother. There was something going on in Texas which caused her to go back to living with her biological mother in Austintown. And there was a civil protection order against the person who had committed some crime against Gina down in Texas.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
So she was wanting to get away and live with her biological mother in Austintown.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Gina Berger's adopted mother, she was actually Jackie Botcher's sister-in-law at some point, but I think that she had divorced the relation to Jackie at some point, but she still had adopted Gina.
Sword and Scale
Episode 280
Jackie realized her daughter was missing pretty soon on. When she was late to come home that night, by two hours, she started calling the police.