CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was executed by injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.
Roy Lee Ward, 53, was put to death at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Indiana Department of Correction said in a statement that the process started shortly after midnight and Ward was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m.
Ward’s last meal was from Texas Corral and included a hamburger. His last words reported by Indiana Department of Correction were “Brian is going to read them,” but it was unclear when exactly he made the statement.
He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne. Authorities said Ward attacked the girl with a knife and dumbbell in her family’s home