A death row inmate has become only the third in the US to be executed with nitrogen gas.
Carey Dale Grayson, 49, was one of four teenagers convicted of the gruesome murder of hitchhiker Vickie DeBlieux, 37, in Alabama in 1994.
Ms DeBlieux was making her way through the state to her mother’s home in Louisiana when she was picked up on February 21 that year.
At some point, Grayson, then 19, and his pals stopped in a wooded area on Bald Mountain where they savagely beat her, eventually choking the life out of her by standing on her throat.
They later returned to mutilate her body before tossing her from a cliff.
Grayson, Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan and Louis Mangione were all convicted of the capital murder.
But the other three all had their death sentences reversed after the US Supreme Court banned the execution of people who were under 18 when they committed the crime.
Ms DeBleiux’s daughter Jodi Haley was just 12 when she was murdered.
Speaking to reporters at the prison’s media centre after the execution, she said her mother’s life and future had been stolen.
‘She was unique. She was spontaneous. She was wild. She was funny. She was gorgeous to boot,’ Ms Haley said of her mother.
She said Grayson was abused in every possible way in his youth but ‘society failed this man as a child, and my family suffered because of it’.
‘Murdering inmates under the guise of justice needs to stop,’ she said, adding: ‘No one should have the right to take a person’s possibilities, days, and life.’
Grayson was put to death at the William C Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama.
His last words were so obscene he was cut off by warden Terry Raybon before he could finish.
Addressing Mr Raybon, he raised both middle fingers and said: ‘For you, you need to f*** off.’
The microphone was carried off seconds later when Grayson, with a gas mask strapped to his face, turned to state officials and the witness room, ranting: ‘For the rest of you…’
Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q Hamm said the nitrogen flowed for 15 minutes, with Grayson’s heart no longer beating about 10 minutes.
Like two other death row inmates previously executed by nitrogen, Grayson shook at times before taking a periodic series of gasping breaths.
Governor Kay Ivey said she was praying for the victim’s loved ones to find closure and healing.
‘Some thirty years ago, Vicki DeBlieux’s journey to her mother’s house and ultimately, her life, were horrifically cut short because of Carey Grayson and three other men,’ Ms Ivey said.
‘She sensed something was wrong, attempted to escape, but instead, was brutally tortured and murdered.’
Grayson’s crimes ‘were heinous, unimaginable, without an ounce of regard for human life and just unexplainably mean’
‘An execution by nitrogen hypoxia (bears) no comparison to the death and dismemberment Ms DeBlieux experienced,’ she added.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
