Death Row killer Roy Lee Ward was executed for the brutal murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne, a Heritage Hills High School cheerleader and honour student whose life was cut short in her own home
Before the executioner’s syringe was prepared, before the straps were fastened and witnesses took their seats, Death Row inmate Roy Lee Ward sat down to his final meal inside Indiana State Prison.
For the third time in less than a year, prison kitchens fired up for what officials call the last meal. This time, it was Ward’s turn. The Perry County man, convicted of killing 15-year-old Stacy Payne in 2001, had spent more than two decades fighting the inevitable. His appeals exhausted, the end was set for the early hours of Friday, October 10.
The life of Stacy Payne, a Heritage Hills High School cheerleader and honour student, was cut short in her own home. On July 11, 2001, Ward knocked on her door pretending to look for a lost dog.
Before the lights dimmed in the death chamber, Ward made his last choice: what to eat.
Ward’s last meal included a hamburger and fries from Texas Corral, according to IDOC. One of his spiritual advisors, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, was allowed in the chamber. Nosbusch said he held Ward’s right hand as the drug was administered.
The process started shortly after midnight and Ward was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m. local time.
Former inmates have requested everything from greasy cheeseburgers to shrimp platters and steak dinners. For many, the ritual is less about indulgence and more about control – one final decision before all choices are taken away.
Ward’s final meal was served quietly, under the watchful eyes of guards. Prison staff later cleared the tray, a small detail in the carefully choreographed process that leads from cell to gurney.
When Ward was led into the death chamber – just steps away from where Joseph Corcoran and Benjamin Ritchie were executed earlier this year – his time was nearly up. He died by lethal injection, a single dose of pentobarbital, the same drug used in both previous executions.
Stacey Payne, a vibrant teenager who played in the school band, worked at a local pizzeria, and was active in her church youth group, has been remembered as “caring, confident, and determined to always do her best”.
Meanwhile, convicted murderer David Joseph Pittman sat down for his final meal at Florida State Prison. He awoke at 5:45 a.m. and later in the day had a meal of steak, chicken and biscuits, corrections officials said.
Pittman, 63, spent more than 34 years on Death Row after being convicted in 1991 for the stabbing deaths of Clarence and Barbara Knowles and their daughter Bonnie inside their Mulberry home.
After killing them, prosecutors said, Pittman set the house on fire, turning the family’s residence into an inferno that lit up the night sky. He later stole Bonnie’s car, only to torch it and leave it abandoned in a ditch.
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