Worst of the Worst

[Charlene]

Donald Lee Gilson was sentenced to death for the first degree child abuse murder of 8-year-old Shane Coffman. On February 9, 1996, the skeletal remains of 8-year-old Shane Coffman were found in an abandoned freezer located next to a mobile home formerly rented by his mother, Bertha Jean Coffman. A subsequent search of the mobile home revealed a photograph of Gilson. On February 11, 1996, authorities from the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office met with Gilson at his mobile home. Living in the mobile home with Gilson was Bertha Jean Coffman and her four children, 12-year-old Isaac, 10-year-old Tia, 11-year-old Tranny and 7-year-old Crystal. The children were immediately removed from the trailer and taken to Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. Gilson and Bertha Jean Coffman were detained by the deputies. Examinations of the children conducted in the emergency room revealed Tranny and Crystal were healthy with a few small scars on each. However, Isaac and Tia were malnourished and emaciated. Tia’s feet were swollen and she had difficulty walking. She had gangrenous tissue on her right foot. On her right buttocks was a large open ulcer. Isaac was in the worst condition, emaciated and needing assistance to walk. He was malnourished and had several injuries, in various stages of healing, and scars throughout his body. In their initial interview with police, Gilson and Coffman both denied any knowledge as to the manner in which Shane died. They stated he had run away from home during the early part of November and they had found him dead in the weeds near Coffman’s trailer. They decided that putting him in the freezer would be the best thing to do. However, in subsequent interviews both Gilson and Coffman recanted this story and admitted to knowing more about the circumstances surrounding Shane’s death. From interviews with Gilson, Coffman, the Coffman children and other 3 witnesses, the following picture emerged. The four Coffman children mentioned above, along with the murder victim in this case, and another brother, 13-year-old Jeremy, lived with their mother Bertha Jean Coffman, in a mobile home. During the fall of 1994, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Department received complaints of sexual abuse committed upon one of the Coffman children by Coffman’s then boyfriend (not Gilson). The investigating detective visited Coffman’s mobile home and found the conditions deplorable and unsanitary. The children were removed from Coffman’s home until conditions improved. It was about this time that Bertha Jean Coffman met Gilson. They were both working as janitors at Little Axe Schools. Gilson fixed up Coffman’s trailer so she could get her children back. The children were subsequently returned to their mother. Thereafter, Gilson began spending more and more time with Coffman and was given the authority to discipline the children. In June of 1995, the oldest child, Jeremy, ran away [as a result of his mistreatment by Gilson]. The next month, Coffman and her children walked to Gilson’s trailer for a visit and never returned to their home. Whatever possessions they had were left at Coffman’s trailer. Gilson’s trailer had only 2 bedrooms; Gilson and Coffman slept in one room and the other room contained Gilson’s leather working material. As a result, all five children were forced to sleep on blankets in the living room. They were not permitted to go outside, but had to remain inside the trailer at all times. The children were taken out of school and claimed to be homeschooled by Coffman, although no evidence of homeschooling was ever found. The children were also not permitted to go to church. Gilson and Coffman both disciplined the children. This discipline took several forms, including standing at the wall, sometimes for hours at a time, and beatings with a bamboo stick, a belt, boards, wooden rulers, metal ruler, and a bullwhip. The children were also made to sit in the bathtub, often for hours at a time. Food was withheld, particularly from Isaac and Tia, as punishment. The abuse inflicted upon Shane Coffman resulted in his death on August 17, 1995. At trial, Tranny testified that he last saw his brother Shane sitting in the bathtub. Tranny said Shane had gotten in trouble for going to the bathroom on the living room carpet. He said that before Shane was put into the bathtub, Gilson beat him with a board. Tranny said Shane received several beatings with the board, all over his body. After the beating, Gilson put Shane into the bathtub. After a couple of hours, Shane was let out of the bathtub. He then got into trouble again. Tranny said Gilson and Coffman then took Shane outside the trailer. Tranny did not know what happened to Shane while he was outside, but he said he could hear Shane screaming. Gilson and Coffman carried Shane back inside the trailer. Tranny said Shane’s arms were swollen, he was breathing “weird”, and he had a soft spot on his head. Pursuant to Gilson’s “house rules”, the other children were not permitted to talk to Shane. Gilson then carried Shane to the bathroom and placed him in the bathtub. Tranny said he and the other children heard a few more screams and banging noises. He said both Gilson and Coffman were with Shane when they heard the screams. The children then decided to try and go to sleep. He said they were awakened some time later by Gilson and Coffman and told that Shane had run away, and that Gilson and Coffman were going to look for him. Isaac testified Gilson first sent Shane to stand at the wall for wetting the bed. While he was standing at the wall, Gilson hit him with a board. Gilson and Coffman eventually took Shane to the bathroom and put him in the bathtub. Isaac said Gilson made all the other children go to the bathroom and tell Shane what a bad boy he was. He said that both Gilson and Coffman remained in the bathroom with Shane while the children watched television. He said they could hear Shane crying. Isaac further stated that later that night, Gilson and Coffman told them Shane had run away. In a statement made to police shortly after his arrest, Gilson stated that on August 17, 1995, he had put Shane in the bathtub as punishment. Gilson said he was trying to teach Shane a lesson, so he spanked him and put him in the bathtub where he was to remain until he stopped the disruptive behavior. He said the water in the bathtub was initially warm to help the pain from the spanking, but then he changed it to a cold bath. Gilson said Shane was crying as Coffman talked to him about his behavior. He said he then laid down on the couch to watch television with the rest of the kids where he eventually fell asleep. Coffman was in and out of the bathroom talking to Shane before she went to the bedroom to lay down. A while later, Coffman came into the living room in tears and told Gilson to come to the bathroom. He said Coffman had taken Shane out of the bathtub and laid him on the floor. Shane’s lips were blue and he was not breathing. Gilson said he performed CPR for approximately an hour to an hour and half. When his efforts were unsuccessful, Gilson took the comforter off of his bed, wrapped Shane up and placed him back in the bathtub. Gilson said he and Coffman discussed what to do next. He said Coffman was worried that the Department of Human Services (DHS) would take her kids away if the authorities found out Shane had died. So they left Shane in the bathtub, waiting until the other children had gone to sleep to remove him from the house. Gilson said they carried Shane outside and placed him in the back of a truck. He said they discussed “just dumping him somewhere” or “bury him out in the middle of the boonies.” But they decided neither of those options were right and “even though he wasn’t alive he would still be part of the family being on her property, . . . thought about putting him in the freezer, it wouldn’t hurt him and then concreting it over. And making a flower bed out of it.” So Gilson and Coffman took Shane’s body to the freezer located next to Coffman’s trailer and put him inside. Gilson said he and Coffman told the other children Shane had run away. Bertha Jean Coffman testified at trial to disciplining her children by making them stand at the time-out wall, and spanking them, only on their bottoms, with a cloth belt or a wooden paddle. She also testified that Gilson disciplined her children by spanking them with the wooden paddle, but at various places on their bodies. Coffman stated Gilson had a quick temper and did not want the children tearing up his trailer. In her statement to police on August 17, 1995, Coffman said she and Gilson found Shane sexually assaulting his younger brother. As punishment, they made him stand at the time-out wall, then Coffman paddled him. When Shane refused to stand at the wall, Coffman spanked him again. When Shane still would not do as Coffman directed, she screamed at him. Shane then fainted. When Coffman could not get a response from Shane, she put a piece of ice on his chest. When he still did not respond, Coffman picked him up and took him to the bathroom where she placed him in a tub of cool water. She said Shane eventually came to and wanted to get out of the tub. She said he slipped and hit his head on the faucet. Coffman stated she pushed on Shane’s shoulders to keep him in the bathtub. They struggled, and the shower doors were knocked off their railing. Coffman called for Gilson to come and fix the doors. Gilson left the living room where he had been watching television with the other children and put the doors back on their railings. Gilson left the bathroom. Coffman and Shane struggled again. Gilson returned to the bathroom to see what the noise was about. He saw the doors had fallen off again so he took them and set them on the floor. Coffman said she remained in the bathroom with Shane while Gilson went back to the living room. After a while, Gilson stepped into the bathroom and told Coffman to leave Shane alone for a while. So Coffman left the bathroom to get Shane dry clothes and prepare lunch. When she saw that Gilson had already prepared lunch, Coffman laid down on her bed. She was awakened by a noise in the bathroom and saw Gilson coming out of the bathroom. When asked how Shane was, Gilson responded he was fine and that he was blowing bubbles. Coffman sat down to have a cup of coffee, then decided to check on Shane. She found him quiet but not breathing. She called for Gilson and they pulled Shane out of the bathtub and gave him CPR. She said they waited until the other children were asleep before taking the body to the freezer. Coffman also stated that once Shane died, Isaac and Tia began receiving the brunt of the discipline from Gilson. Shane’s skeletal remains were not found until approximately 6 months after his death. Therefore, the medical examiner, Dr. Balding, was not able to make a determination as to the cause of death. The medical examiner did testify to injuries to certain bones which were evident upon his examination of the remains. The injuries included a fracture to the right jawbone. The injury was determined to be “acute” as it showed no signs of healing, and therefore was probably less than a week old at the time of death. Another fracture was also found on the left side of the skull. Dr. Balding testified the two fractures were the result of two different blunt force blows. A tooth was missing from the right jaw. Fractures were also found in the collarbone, shoulder blades, numerous ribs, both legs, and several vertebrae in the spine. All the fractures were ruled acute, and not the result of normal childhood play. Gilson and Bertha Jean Coffman were jointly charged with first degree murder by child abuse in the death of Shane Coffman, and one count of injury to a minor child for the abuse suffered by each of the remaining children. They were also jointly charged with conspiracy to unlawfully remove a dead body and unlawful removal of a dead body. On August 20, 1997, approximately 8 months prior to Gilson’s trial, Coffman entered Alford pleas to all counts. Gilson was subsequently tried and convicted on all charges except he was found not guilty of committing injury to a minor child as to Jeremy, Tranny and Crystal. The jury, in connection with the two injury to a minor child convictions, concluded Gilson’s sentence should be life imprisonment. At the conclusion of the second-stage proceedings, which were conducted as a result of Gilson’s murder conviction, the jury found the existence of both aggravating factors alleged by the State and recommended a death sentence. Gilson was formally sentenced by the state trial court at a later hearing.

[Tracy]

That so called "Mother" needs to be on DR too. That story makes me sick to my stomach and it will be an execution ill actually celebrate.

[Charlene]

On 5/4/91, Daniel E. Wilson, 21, murdered his 24-year-old acquaintance, Carol Lutz, in Elyria. Carol had offered Wilson a ride home from a bar. Wilson locked Carol in the trunk of her car and drove around for several hours. Wilson later punctured the car's gas tank, stuffed a rag into the tank and set the car on fire. Carol died of third degree burns and carbon monoxide poisoning in the car's trunk, which reached an estimated 550 degrees. Wilson later confessed to police.  When Wilson was 14 years old, he broke into an elderly man's home, assaulted the man resulting in a broken hip, ripped out the phone and left the man for dead. The victim was unable to call for help and died as a result of his injuries. Wilson was found deliquent by reason of involuntary homicide and served a year in a juvenile facility before being transferred to a halfway house.

For the scumpals in the house, Wilson wants you to be his friend. He says he is "a caring, friendly and trustworthy person" and is "looking for a kind, compassionate, friendly and trustworthy person to correspond with." Just don't offer him a ride...

www.deathrowspeaks.info/inmates/danielwilson.html

[lawrence]

Fly me over and i would gladly prss the buttons for these two F***ers. Jeeeeeeeeeeze what scum of the earth. Fry them, burn them, boil them, behead them, gas them and then hang drew and quarter them. First though a good dose of torture first so that they realised what their kids went through. Evil scum.

[The Tipsy Broker]

Just when I think I cannot find another more evil scumbag than the last one, one appears

I dont usually wish for botched executions. I do here, nice and painful

[Elric of Melnibone]

I want it to go off smooth and by the numbers. I dont want anyone saying that they are in pain or anything.
But I do want them to have to have their cells covered in pictures of the victims and that the are unable to remove them...

[Bull]

Aug 26, 2008 22:41:59 GMT -6 mst3k4evur said:

Stephen Hugueley, 40
Death Row State of Tennessee

Written by mst3k4evur from News, documentary and prodp sources.

On a night in 1984 Stephen Hugueley, then a 16 boy still living with his mother in Tennessee, was on the phone with his 26-year-old girlfriend, talking about a date they had planned for later. His mother had never approved of the relationship and upon seeing her son on phone referred to the woman as a ‘whore.’ Huguely then told the woman that he was “fixin to kill this b*tch” but that they would still go out later. He then shot his mother in the head with a rifle, put his mother’s corpse in the trunk of his car and threw it off a bridge. He went on his date but was arrested soon after. He was caught and sentenced to life in prison with a chance at parole after 25 years. To this day he expresses no regrets for his mother’s murder-or the two that would follow.

“She was sticking her nose in my love life,” he said later. It would be a common theme, show Hugueley the slightest disrespect and he would kill-and kill brutally.

It would be just five years after his 1986 conviction that he would kill again. This time it was inmate James Shelton in the West Tennessee State Prison in 1991. Shelton had been stabbed over 60 times with a homemade knife and bludgeoned with a pillow case full of d-cell batteries. He was convicted again sentenced to life, this time with no parole.

“I’ve never lost a moment of sleep over anything I’ve ever done,” said Huguely during a documentary interview.

Hugueley claims Shelton had come to his cell the day of the murder to threaten him, but it seems unlikely given the weapons Huguely had with him. Most likely the murder stemmed from Hugueley’s other complaint about the victim: he made too much noise.

In 1997 he tried again, repeatedly stabbing another inmate, only the poor construction of this knife saved the victim.

In 2002, one man decided he was not impressed with Hugueley, no longer the teenager he had been in 1984 but a hulking, muscular adult with a tattoo of a swastika across his forhead. Counselor Delbert Steed began filing disciplinary reports on Hugueley and was unsympathetic to his demands for art supplies, perhaps because they included sharp pencils, and his request for a cleaner cell mate. Hugueley also claims that Steed made ‘derogatory remarks’ about the twice convicted murderer. After grievances filed on the matter were ignored Hugueley made another knife and confronted Steed in the hallway of the Hardeman County Correctional Facility. He stabbed him and kept stabbing as Steed fell to the ground, using a weapon fashioned from a piece of metal melted into a magic marker. Hugueley later explained his desire to stab through the lungs and the heart. He did and Hugueley committed his third murder.

After he received a death sentence for Steed’s murder, Huguely dropped his appeals but then resumed them as his execution date neared in 2006. He believes that he may kill again.

“It may be one year, five years or 10 years, but sooner or later, somebody will do something to set me off,” he said.

He remains incarcerated at the Administrative Segregation unit of the Brushy Mountain Maximum Security Prison, awaiting execution rather than with other death row inmates at Riverbend Prison because of the unique threat he poses. According to inmate and close friend Ron Mosby, Hugueley is the most feared inmate in the state of Tennessee.

He is not feared... That would be Hodges.... Hugueley is a joke and preys on the weak.... I talked to him at length in 2002 and 2003, I videotaped his arrival to RMSI .... he is a lying, pathetic piece of shyte and he is of no use to society.

[Potassium_Pixie]

For these people, I feel sick to my stomach and I wish that they would have experienced the pain of the people they murdered before they got executed. I would have gladly injected them or electrocuted them myself. These people are sick and I hope to God that they rot in hell. Burn you stupid pieces of s---.

[nate]

Agreed. that is a horrible way for a child to die....nate.

[Charlene]

In November 1990, John Fautenberry, who had recently quit his job as a cross-country truck driver, met Donald Nutley at a truck stop outside Portland, Oregon, and the two men went target shooting together. After they had finished and were leaving the range, Fautenberry shot Nutley in the head and stole $10,000 from him. Fautenberry then drove to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he stayed with his sister for a short time before traveling to Connecticut to visit an old friend. In February 1991, while en route back to Cincinnati, Fautenberry — out of money and in need of gasoline to continue his travels — stopped at a truck stop in New Jersey. There he met Gary Farmer, who, after learning of Fautenberry’s need for money, offered to buy Fautenberry breakfast and give him money in exchange for sex. Fautenberry got into the cab of Farmer’s truck, shot Farmer in the head, and took his wallet. Fautenberry then returned to his sister’s residence in Cincinnati. On February 17, 1991, after another brief stay in Cincinnati, Fautenberry again left his sister’s residence, this time on foot, in search of money. Fautenberry walked down Highway 125, in the eastern suburbs of Cincinnati, stopped at the on-ramp to Interstate 275, and began hitchhiking. Joseph Daron offered to give Fautenberry a ride. Daron intended to travel only ten miles north to his home in Milford, Ohio, but, upon learning that Fautenberry wanted to go north to Columbus, Ohio, he drove Fautenberry an extra ten miles and dropped him near the intersection of Interstate 275 and Interstate 71, which goes directly to Columbus. As he exited Daron’s vehicle, Fautenberry reached back into the car and shot Daron twice in the chest. Fautenberry then drove Daron’s car south to Cincinnati, and threw Daron’s body into a wooded area on the north bank of the Ohio River, where it was eventually found more than a month later by the local authorities. Fautenberry took Daron’s car, wallet, briefcase, wristwatch, and Bible, and returned to Oregon. Fautenberry arrived in Portland on February 24, 1991, and spent the next few days at the Oregon coast with some old friends and acquaintances, including a woman named Christine Guthrie. Guthrie accompanied Fautenberry back to Portland from the coast, and along the way, they stopped on an old logging road. Fautenberry escorted Guthrie to a secluded portion of the woods, shot her three times in the back of the head, and stole her bank card. A few days later, after withdrawing cash from her bank account, Fautenberry traveled to Juneau, Alaska, where he began working aboard a fishing boat. On March 13, 1991, Fautenberry met Jefferson Diffee at a local bar, and the two men went to Diffee’s apartment. While there, Fautenberry beat Diffee, handcuffed him, and stabbed him seventeen times, which resulted in his death. The local police discovered Fautenberry’s fingerprints at the scene of the crime, and on March 16, 1991, they arrested him for the murder of Diffee. The police then searched Fautenberry’s storage locker and hotel room, where they found Daron’s briefcase, wristwatch, and Bible. On March 17, 1991, while in police custody, Fautenberry called Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Agent Larry Ott and left a message indicating that he wanted to talk. Agent Ott went to the jail, informed Fautenberry of his Miranda rights (which Fautenberry subsequently waived), and recorded Fautenberry’s confession to the murders of Nutley, Farmer, Daron, and Guthrie. Fautenberry accurately described the wounds inflicted upon each victim, and indicated that robbery was the motive for each killing. A few days later, Fautenberry called his old girlfriend, Olivia Priest-Herndon, and told her that he was “only after . . . money” and that he “did it so he gotta pay the price now.” Fautenberry also confessed to Tom Nelson of the Portland Police Department, informing Nelson where the bodies of Nutley and Guthrie were located. In August 1991, Fautenberry pleaded guilty in an Alaskan state court to the murder of Jefferson Diffee, and the court sentenced him to 99 years’ imprisonment. In September 1991, the Alaskan authorities transferred Fautenberry to Hamilton County, Ohio, the county in which Cincinnati is located, where a grand jury had returned a five-count indictment charging Fautenberry with two counts of aggravated murder (both pertaining to the death of Daron), aggravated robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, and theft of a credit card. The aggravated murder charges included two specifications, either of which would render Fautenberry eligible for the death penalty under Ohio law: (1) killing Daron while committing aggravated robbery; and (2) killing Daron as part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of two or more persons. Fautenberry waived his right to a trial by jury and later proffered a no-contest plea to all counts and specifications in the indictment. Under Ohio law, a capital defendant who waives his right to trial by jury and elects to be tried by the court, is actually tried by a three-judge panel. Furthermore, even on a no-contest plea, the prosecution must produce evidence to prove aggravated murder with the specified aggravating circumstances. The prosecution presented the three-judge panel with evidence, including the murder weapon, various other pieces of physical evidence, and transcripts of Fautenberry’s confessions to Agent Ott, Officer Nelson, and Ms. Priest-Herndon. After reviewing this evidence, the court concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Fautenberry was guilty of all counts and specifications in the indictment, and accepted his plea. In September 1992, the three-judge panel held a sentencing hearing. The defense presented its mitigating evidence, which included testimony from Fautenberry, Dr. Nancy Schmidtgoessling, and friends who knew Fautenberry well. Those friends included Louise Corcoran (a long-time friend of Fautenberry’s family), Ms. Priest-Herndon (Fautenberry’s former girlfriend with whom he had lived), and Mary Theresa Slayback (a friend with whom Fautenberry lived during his early twenties). After hearing all of this evidence, as well as the testimony of the six law-enforcement officers presented during the mitigation hearing by the prosecution, the three-judge panel imposed the death penalty, finding that, despite the defense’s “thorough job in presenting the mitigating factors,” it was beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating factors sufficiently outweighed the mitigating factors. 

[greatlakes]

Alton Coleman can be found in the Scheduled Executions section of this site. I believe his execution date was 4-26-02. His "partner in crime", Debra Brown was also executed. The guy was pure evil.

This site is a real eye opener for me, especially the Victims' Voices page. I'm reading the tributes and the stories one by one. Many times I wanted to leave a thought in the guestbooks, but all of them seem to be closed due to spammers, and, I'd imagine, people calling for compassion for the killers, which is ironic since anyone who would put such messages on a page meant to remember and honor the victims is singularly lacking in that same compassion they seemingly demand from anyone else. For all on here who have lost a loved one to murder, you have my deepest sympathy. I couldn't begin to imagine the pain you must feel.

[mst3k4evur]

Aug 21, 2009 13:42:33 GMT -6 greatlakes said:

Alton Coleman can be found in the Scheduled Executions section of this site. I believe his execution date was 4-26-02. His "partner in crime", Debra Brown was also executed. The guy was pure evil.

This site is a real eye opener for me, especially the Victims' Voices page. I'm reading the tributes and the stories one by one. Many times I wanted to leave a thought in the guestbooks, but all of them seem to be closed due to spammers, and, I'd imagine, people calling for compassion for the killers, which is ironic since anyone who would put such messages on a page meant to remember and honor the victims is singularly lacking in that same compassion they seemingly demand from anyone else. For all on here who have lost a loved one to murder, you have my deepest sympathy. I couldn't begin to imagine the pain you must feel.

Unfortunately, Debra Brown is still alive and on death row in Indiana.

[greatlakes]

Aug 21, 2009 14:20:47 GMT -6 mst3k4evur said:

Aug 21, 2009 13:42:33 GMT -6 greatlakes said:

Alton Coleman can be found in the Scheduled Executions section of this site. I believe his execution date was 4-26-02. His "partner in crime", Debra Brown was also executed. The guy was pure evil.

This site is a real eye opener for me, especially the Victims' Voices page. I'm reading the tributes and the stories one by one. Many times I wanted to leave a thought in the guestbooks, but all of them seem to be closed due to spammers, and, I'd imagine, people calling for compassion for the killers, which is ironic since anyone who would put such messages on a page meant to remember and honor the victims is singularly lacking in that same compassion they seemingly demand from anyone else. For all on here who have lost a loved one to murder, you have my deepest sympathy. I couldn't begin to imagine the pain you must feel.

Unfortunately, Debra Brown is still alive and on death row in Indiana.

My mistake. Not sure where I thought I saw that she was executed. They should have been done as a set.

[Deleted]

I was born and raised in the UK, the DP abolished before I was born, but since moving this side of the Atlantic, I have, which I sometimes feel, is a morbid fascination with the DP. At first, I was totally against it, but then I heard some of the horrific murder stories, especially against children and I feel myself more and more in support. I recently came across a guy called Bart Whittaker, on DR in Tx. He has a blog which I began reading, hoping that I could retain some of that milk of human kindness against execution, but this guy is arrogant and obviously feels he is beyond consequences - he arranged to have his mother, father, brother executed - the father survived. I truly feel for this surviving father, having lost one child, now to lose the only one he has left. If they do execute him, I hope it is after his father has died. I find this issue to be very contentious and my agreement with the DP has caused me to have inner turmoil. Thank you for reading this, I needed to put it into words.

[Deleted]

The worst cases for me are the following

Brian Dugan - who is currently on trial for the rape and murder of 10 year old Jeanine Nicarico ./ Along with the failures of DuPage he went to murder 2 more inncoent women and children and rape dozens more. The town of Dupage wrongfully convicted three other men of this murder and two of them sat on death row for 10 years. Dugan is a scary heartless person. however so are the prosecutors warned numerous times that Cruz was not involved but plowed on with prosecution after prosecution with little evidence.

The murder of Karen Keeton in 1978. This is a disturbing case. She was a waitress at a bar frequented by bikers. One , more of a biker wanna be ,named Steven Gardner took a like to her but she had a boyfriend so she turned him down. One night she needed a ride and caught one with said biker who brought her home to his friends lair and for four hours they gang raped , tortured and sodomized her, making her eat her own feces and drink her own urine. They then slit her throat and threw her out like trash. George Tiny Mercer and Steven Garndner were found guilty of first degree murder in the death of Keeton. Here is synopsis of the crime according to a witness at present at the time.

websolutions.learfield.com/deathrow/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=FA0CE7D4-3C2F-40C7-AE7E2CA8CF7EA508
.
Her body was in such bad shape it was unidentifiable when found,.

[Deleted]

Another is one of the true dead man walking cases featured in Helen Prejeans book Dead Man Walking and later in Detective Mike Varnados book about the victim Loss of Faith which was requested by the mother of the victim Faith Hathaway . The dead womans mother was tired of the lies being told by Prejean in the book to make her clients look less guilty. Mike Varnados book was excellent. It is well written and comes stright from the mouth of the man who sat across from Robert Lee Willie as he talked about raping and sodomkizing 18 year old Faith Hathway numerous times before and after her death. She was stabbed 17 times , her throat slit and fingers cut off. Her graduation medallion was stuck so deep in her neck they could not originally find it do to the brutality of the rape alone.

Want the truth about Dead Man Walking killer? You willl not get it from Sister Helen Prejean. Read Mike Varnados Loss of Faith. It shows you what the killers were really like... Brutal case. One of the worst and saddest I have ever read besides the above two.

[Deleted]

These cases just blow my mind. I just cannot wrap my mind on how some of these criminals have gotten to that point. It is more than sickening.

[Potassium_Pixie]

All that I can say is that some of these peoples are real true sickos and need to meet the Grim Reaper soon.

[arizonavet]

I've printed this on the debate boards previously, but I feel it deserves space on this very cogent topic....

This is the most outrageous example of a state NOT executing murderers....and it's innocent citizens paying the awful price....

Gary Tison & Randy Greenawalt...

***********************************************************************************************

Nearly two decades ago, for 12 steamy monsoon days in August of 1978, police combed the Southwest for two escaped Arizona murderers and the three sons who sprung them from an Arizona state prison.
In those more easygoing times, Arizona's medium security facilities apparently offered little trouble to Gary Tison's three sons -- Donald, 20, Ricky, 19, and Raymond, 18 -- when they decided to sneak in an ice chest containing revolvers and sawed-off shotguns on visitors' day.
They broke out their father, Gary Tison, serving a life sentence for killing a Phoenix jail guard in 1967. Randy Greenawalt, serving his own life term for shooting a Flagstaff truck driver through the head in order to rob him in 1974, tagged along.
The five raced for the California state line, but suffered a flat tire near Quartzite. When Marine Sgt. John Lyons, 24, of Yuma stopped with his family to help, the five fugitives shot and killed them all.
Lyons' 15-year-old niece, Theresa Tyson, survived longest. Mortally wounded when a bullet shattered her thigh, sending bone fragments into her abdomen, she crawled a quarter mile into the desert to escape. Her body was found five days later, huddled over the small dog with whom the family had traveled, as though to protect it. The dog was also dead.
In July, the Western Arizona sun can kill within hours.
Also murdered were Sgt. Lyons' 23-year-old wife, Donnelda, and the 22-month-old infant she clutched in her arms.
Eldest of three children, Theresa Tyson was the "star" of her family. After her death, her younger brother tried to fill her shoes, taking over the training of the family dogs. When one of the animals dashed out into the street a month after Theresa's death, her brother followed ... was himself struck by a truck and killed.
The Tison gang are believed to have killed two more innocents to accomplish their next car switch -- a honeymooning couple from Amarillo who probably had the misfortune to encounter the gang at a construction roadblock in Colorado.
The bodies of James and Margeen Judge were finally found in November, at a remote Colorado campsite.
When the gang was finally stopped by a curtain of bullets at a police roadblock near Casa Grande on Aug. 11, 1978, driver Donald Tison was the first to die. His father, Gary, fled into the desert, perishing of exposure within two days. Greenawalt and the surviving Tyson brothers were convicted of four counts of murder, each, and sentenced to death in March, 1979.
Now, 18 years later, multiple murderer Randy Greenawalt's appeals finally seem to have reached an end. Arizona might actually execute Greenawalt today, Jan. 23.
It's easy to bellow bloodthirsty noises from a distance, if one is not personally required to throw the switch. Capital punishment is the ultimate use of the state's massive power, and there's no denying it has been misused in the past.
On the other hand, those who argue that individuals deserve the liberty to bear arms and generally do as we please, up to the point where we assault the liberties of others, are fond of mouthing easy assurances that "All we have to do is hold people responsible if and when they do harm others."
Hold responsible, how? Convict Greenawalt was already locked up "for life" for his first murder. Fat lot of good that did.
In the words of Bob Corbin, who went on to head the NRA after serving as Arizona's attorney general from 1978 to 1990: "He deserves it. I hope the hell they carry it out this time. If they'd executed him for his crime the first time, those people might still be alive today."
That's the context in which this terrible closure should be viewed. At each step, he and his accomplices had the option of not killing the people whose cars they stole.
Will the late Sgt. Lyons ever have the "choice" whether to attend the high school graduation of his son Christopher ... his tiny head blown off by a shotgun blast as he lay clutched in his terrified mother's arms in their back seat on July 31, 1978?
And what about Theresa Tyson, 15, mortally wounded and dragging herself off to die in the desert, removing her dog's collar and tags and placing them around her own leg as her last act in this world, in hopes that someone finding her bones would at least be able to tell her parents where she'd reached her final rest?
The victims are too often forgotten, as the now-gray-haired prisoners "find religion," hone their book-learning, and while away their days authoring endless, ornate appeals based on every nuance of legal flummery.
After 18 years, today is a good day for Randy Greenawalt to die.

**************************************************************************************************

In 1997, Greenawalt was executed.....
Ricky & Raymond Tison can be looked up at the same prison that they sprung their father from....they've been there for over 30 years now.
At least THEY are model prisoners...unlike their murderous father.

www.azcorrections.gov/inmate_datasearch/Index_Minh.aspx

[Californian]

Mar 15, 2009 21:50:24 GMT -6 Charlene said:

For the scumpals in the house, Wilson wants you to be his friend.

Char, did you use the word "scumpals?!"

Now we KNOW you're pissed.

[arizonavet]

Mar 16, 2009 3:26:26 GMT -6 The Tipsy Broker said:

Just when I think I cannot find another more evil scumbag than the last one, one appears

I dont usually wish for botched executions. I do here, nice and painful

Awwww, Mike (it IS Mike isn't it) you're just "mean spirited"...(that's my nick-name on CCADP) ;D

How anyone could realistically believe that these child torturing monsters could be "rehabilitated".....
or even trusted to remain incarcerated safely....

is beyond me.

Dangerous as a stick of unstable dynomite.....untill they stop breathing.

Even then....I'd check their graves every now & then (with decon suits) to make sure they were still dead.

[arizonavet]

Albert Fish

Child murder/torturer...
Cannibil...
World-class sicko....

This is Albert's confession to the death of 4 year old, Billy Gaffney...
as told to his mother!

Billy was one of three child victims....

Anti DP psychiatrists fought to save Albert Fish.....

WARNING...this is stomach turning graphic.

Albert Fish was electrocuted, in New York's Sing Sing prison, Jan 16, 1936

***********************************************************************************************

I brought him to the Riker Ave. dumps. There is a house that stands alone, not far from where I took him. I took the boy there. Stripped him naked and tied his hands and feet and gagged him with a piece of dirty rag I picked out of the dump. Then I burned his clothes. Threw his shoes in the dump. Then I walked back and took the trolley to 59 St. at 2 A.M. and walked from there home. Next day about 2 P.M., I took tools, a good heavy cat-of-nine tails. Home made. Short handle. Cut one of my belts in half, slit these halves in six strips about 8 inches long. I whipped his bare behind till the blood ran from his legs. I cut off his ears – nose – slit his mouth from ear to ear. Gouged out his eyes. He was dead then. I stuck the knife in his belly and held my mouth to his body and drank his blood. I picked up four old potato sacks and gathered a pile of stones. Then I cut him up. I had a grip with me. I put his nose, ears and a few slices of his belly in the grip. Then I cut him through the middle of his body. Just below the belly button. Then through his legs about 2 inches below his behind. I put this in my grip with a lot of paper. I cut off the head – feet – arms – hands and the legs below the knee. This I put in sacks weighed with stones, tied the ends and threw them into the pools of slimy water you will see all along the road going to North Beach. I came home with my meat. I had the front of his body I liked best. His monkey and pee wees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat. I made a stew out of his ears – nose – pieces of his face and belly. I put onions, carrots, turnips, celery, salt and pepper. It was good. Then I split the cheeks of his behind open, cut off his monkey and pee wees and washed them first. I put strips of bacon on each cheek of his behind and put them in the oven. Then I picked 4 onions and when the meat had roasted about 1/4 hour, I poured about a pint of water over it for gravy and put in the onions. At frequent intervals I basted his behind with a wooden spoon. So the meat would be nice and juicy. In about 2 hours, it was nice and brown, cooked through. I never ate any roast turkey that tasted half as good as his sweet fat little behind did. I ate every bit of the meat in about four days. His little monkey was as sweet as a nut, but his pee-wees I could not chew. Threw them in the toilet.[10]

********************************************************************************************

[Deleted]

Oct 6, 2011 8:35:55 GMT -6 arizonavet said:

Albert Fish

Child murder/torturer...
Cannibil...
World-class sicko....

This is Albert's confession to the death of 4 year old, Billy Gaffney...
as told to his mother!

Billy was one of three child victims....

Anti DP psychiatrists fought to save Albert Fish.....

WARNING...this is stomach turning graphic.

Albert Fish was electrocuted, in New York's Sing Sing prison, Jan 16, 1936

***********************************************************************************************

I brought him to the Riker Ave. dumps. There is a house that stands alone, not far from where I took him. I took the boy there. Stripped him naked and tied his hands and feet and gagged him with a piece of dirty rag I picked out of the dump. Then I burned his clothes. Threw his shoes in the dump. Then I walked back and took the trolley to 59 St. at 2 A.M. and walked from there home. Next day about 2 P.M., I took tools, a good heavy cat-of-nine tails. Home made. Short handle. Cut one of my belts in half, slit these halves in six strips about 8 inches long. I whipped his bare behind till the blood ran from his legs. I cut off his ears – nose – slit his mouth from ear to ear. Gouged out his eyes. He was dead then. I stuck the knife in his belly and held my mouth to his body and drank his blood. I picked up four old potato sacks and gathered a pile of stones. Then I cut him up. I had a grip with me. I put his nose, ears and a few slices of his belly in the grip. Then I cut him through the middle of his body. Just below the belly button. Then through his legs about 2 inches below his behind. I put this in my grip with a lot of paper. I cut off the head – feet – arms – hands and the legs below the knee. This I put in sacks weighed with stones, tied the ends and threw them into the pools of slimy water you will see all along the road going to North Beach. I came home with my meat. I had the front of his body I liked best. His monkey and pee wees and a nice little fat behind to roast in the oven and eat. I made a stew out of his ears – nose – pieces of his face and belly. I put onions, carrots, turnips, celery, salt and pepper. It was good. Then I split the cheeks of his behind open, cut off his monkey and pee wees and washed them first. I put strips of bacon on each cheek of his behind and put them in the oven. Then I picked 4 onions and when the meat had roasted about 1/4 hour, I poured about a pint of water over it for gravy and put in the onions. At frequent intervals I basted his behind with a wooden spoon. So the meat would be nice and juicy. In about 2 hours, it was nice and brown, cooked through. I never ate any roast turkey that tasted half as good as his sweet fat little behind did. I ate every bit of the meat in about four days. His little monkey was as sweet as a nut, but his pee-wees I could not chew. Threw them in the toilet.[10]

********************************************************************************************

I cant tell you how reading that made me feel, should have gone to bed 10 minutes ago

[arizonavet]

Kita...

I read a book on this maniac....

I've been in two wars....and served as a constable....

It was the only book I had to set down (repeatedly) because I was getting upset.

This excerpt was only the "tip of the iceberg"...

It still blows my mind, that there is always someone who wants to give them a chance to be rehabilitated, or at least escape & continue....

Albert was kept in solitary confinement, but in a cage in the middle of a room, like "Hannibal Lecter"....
The movie was loosely based on the life of Fish.

Visitors to Sing Sing came by the thousands to look at him....Albert didn't dissapoint...he would masturbate furiously as they watched.

I know...."TMI"....

This monster was the original "poster child" for the death penalty.

[Deleted]

What about Oba?

[Deleted]

How do you judge the worst of the worst. Is it the circumstance of death or the number of people murdered. Here are some worst of the worst from down under,

Derek Percy. Murdered a girl in 1966. Suspected of about 5-6 other child murders

Unknown South Australian kidnapper.

Responsible for the abduction of 3 children from Glenelg beach in 1966 and the 1973? abduction of 2 girls from Adelaide oval. It could be the same offender, or two different offenders. It is speculated that Percy was responsible for the 1966 case but his age is inconsistent with the suspect description.

The abduction of more then one child by a stranger is extremely rare around the world.

Snow town.

A group of men attacked members of their social group for various reasons. 12 people were murdered.

Port Arthur

Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people. do I need to say anything more?

Anita cobby.

Nurse abducted by 5 men as she walked home. The account of her Rape and murder is amongst the worst in Australian Criminal history

Janine balding

Suffered a similar fate to Anita cobby. She was abducted by 5 people from a car park driven across Sydney then raped and murdered. 3 were convicted of murder 1 of rape and one wasn't charged at all due to
Mental
Issues.

Ivan Milat

Murdered 7 backpackers who he gave a lift to. The cliche hitch hiking murders. It is believed he has murdered more people then those whoseurders he was convicted of

John Wayne Glover

Bashed to death 6 elderly women in Sydney, because his mother and mother in law mistreated him

Donald McKay.

Politician and anti mafia activist murdered because he had the hide to stand up to the Italian mafia based in Australia


John Newman

Political assassination of anti crime activist by a political rival. John Newman represented the area known as the drug capital of Australia

Walsh st police shootings

What set Walsh st apart was the fact the killers had set out to murder any two policemen as a revenge plot for shooting a criminal associate.

All of the crimes I listed are horrendous...how do you puck the worst of the worst

[The Tipsy Broker]

If the murder happens in your family, its the worst of the worst no matter how grisly and depraved the death.

[josephdphillips]

Nov 22, 2011 11:11:59 GMT -6 The Tipsy Broker said:

If the murder happens in your family, its the worst of the worst no matter how grisly and depraved the death.

Well-stated.

I don't read news articles about murder any more. To read one is to read them all.

I find the phrase "worst of the worst" particularly offensive. That we categorize murder victims says more about us than it does says about the murderers.

[Deleted]

Nov 22, 2011 13:25:48 GMT -6 josephdphillips said:

Nov 22, 2011 11:11:59 GMT -6 The Tipsy Broker said:

If the murder happens in your family, its the worst of the worst no matter how grisly and depraved the death.

Well-stated.

I don't read news articles about murder any more. To read one is to read them all.

I find the phrase "worst of the worst" particularly offensive. That we categorize murder victims says more about us than it does says about the murderers.

That is how our legal system is designed. If you commit murder in the worst category you will get life. It's why some multiple killers don't get life.

[snidery]

A few nasties:
Eric Nenno - executed 28 Oct 2008
Elijah Page - executed July 2007
Peter Cantu - executed 17 Aug 2010

Just for starters!

I'm still waiting for Utah to sort out Mr Kell.