Indiana executed Roy Lee Ward by lethal injection early Friday morning for the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in Spencer County.

Ward, 53, was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m. at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, marking the state's third execution since resuming capital punishment in 2024 after a 15-year hiatus.

Ward was convicted of attacking Payne with a knife and dumbbell in her family's home near Dale on July 11, 2001. Authorities said Ward gained entry by telling the teenager he was looking for a lost dog while she was home alone with her younger sister.

The execution proceeded after Ward withdrew his final two federal lawsuits that had sought to delay his death sentence or challenge Indiana's lethal injection protocols. Ward's attorney said he was "very rem

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