Since 2001, when he pled guilty to capital murder, rape, and four counts of sexual battery against Leesa Marie Gray, Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. has been on death row.
In the United States, a man was killed by lethal injection for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl more than 20 years ago.
Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. was declared dead in Mississippi at 6:12 p.m. local time on Wednesday, according to state officials. He was the second person to be killed in the state in the past decade.
Since pleading guilty to murder, rape, and four counts of sexual violence against Leesa Marie Gray in 2001, Loden has been on death row.
In June 2000, she was stuck with a flat tire when Loden pushed her into his van.
According to an interview he provided authorities, the Marine Corps recruiter sexually assaulted the victim for four hours before strangling and suffocating her.
According to court documents, Loden was later discovered laying by the side of a road with the words “I’m sorry” etched into his chest and wrists slashed.
He was one of five death row inmates suing the state of Mississippi over its protocol for lethal injection.
Even though the complaint was still active, a federal judge refused to prevent the execution.
Before being executed, Loden was “remorseful to the family,” according to officials.
Ms. Gray was employed as a server at her uncle’s restaurant in northeast Mississippi during the summer preceding her final year of high school.
She left work after dark on June 22, 2000, and became stranded on a rural road with a flat tire.
At 10:45 p.m., Loden encountered Gray on the road and began speaking with him about the flat tire, stating: “Don’t fret. I’m a Marine. This is the kind of work we perform.”
Loden told investigators that he became enraged when Gray claimed stated she had no desire to join the Marines, and that he ordered her into his van.
After pleading guilty in September 2001, Loden told Gray’s family and friends at his sentencing, “I hope you leave here today with a sense of justice.”
Wanda Farris, Ms. Gray’s mother, described her daughter as a “happy-go-lucky, always-smiling” adolescent who desired to become an elementary school teacher.
