FL- On eve of execution, murderer feels 'glad'

This very ODD case is posted here in suicides and in the murders blog, because RSO-A inmate murdered another (RSO-B) so that RSO-A could get the death penalty. i.e., RSO-A suicide by murdering someone.

5-26-2004 Florida:

John Blackwelder tells the media he killed another inmate just so he could get the death penalty, and Gov. Jeb Bush "will get another kill."

STARKE - John Blackwelder, who is scheduled to die today for a prison killing, apologized Monday for the murder but said it was the only way to manipulate the state to get the death penalty.

"I will be glad tomorrow to lay on the gurney and tomorrow you (Gov. Jeb Bush) will get another kill," Blackwelder, 49, formerly of Fort Pierce, said in a media interview.

Blackwelder pleaded guilty to murdering convicted killer Raymond Wigley, 39, of Fort Worth, Texas, who was strangled on May 6, 2000, at Columbia Correctional Institution. After luring Wigley into his cell with the promise of a sex act, he tied Wigley to the bed and strangled him as Wigley begged for mercy.

"I am sorry for killing Wigley, but to get what I wanted I had to," Blackwelder said.

Wigley was convicted of the rape, torture and murder of Adella Maria Simmons, 47, in 1983.

Blackwelder noted that he will die on the 25th anniversary of the execution of John Spenkelink, the first Florida inmate and the second in the country to be executed after the Supreme Court made states redo their death penalty laws.

Blackwelder said Wigley was the only person he ever killed and claimed he was innocent of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in St. Lucie County, the crime that put him in prison for life without the possibility of parole.

Blackwelder said he was fearful that his execution would be put off until fall so it could be used politically by Gov. Bush and President Bush.

"I did not want my execution to become a political statement for any Bush," Blackwelder said.

Gov. Bush did not directly comment on Blackwelder's statements.

"People have to remember what actually happened here," Bush said. "This was a man who was on death row because he murdered somebody."

"I am sorry for what I've done; now I have to pay the price," said Blackwelder, who admitted threatening Vice President Dan Quayle "because I was homeless."

Blackwelder is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. today at Florida State Prison.

He will be the fifth Florida inmate executed by injection, the second this year. He will be the 59th inmate executed since Florida resumed executions on May 25, 1979, when Spenkelink was put to death for slaying a traveling companion in Tallahassee.

Psychologists claim Blackwelder has been diagnosed as having impulse control disorder, antisocial personality disorder and pedophilia.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Blackwelder's conviction and death sentence in July after an automatic appeal. Blackwelder then filed a motion to waive any more appeals.

Death penalty opponent Abe Bonowitz, with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said Blackwelder's death wish was "suicide by governor."

Six of the last 10 inmates have opted to drop their appeals to speed up their executions.

Blackwelder said he became a Christian while on death row. "After I die, I feel I will go to heaven," he said.

Throughout the interview his impending death was on his mind.

"It's time to do away with the death penalty," he said at one point.

But he abruptly ended his interview, saying, "I can't kill myself. I'm not suicidal. I can get the state to do it for me." ..more.. by Associated Press

OH- Deputies find jailed man dead

1-16-2005 Ohio:

CANTON — A 39-year-old Jackson Township man arrested on sex-related charges after a 15-year-old California runaway was found in his home hanged himself in his jail cell just after midnight Saturday.

Richard L. Marshall, 39, of 2729 Blackfriars Dr. NW, spoke at 11:59 p.m. Friday to corrections officers at the Stark County Jail when they came to his cell in the “special precautions” wing, Sheriff Tim Swanson said. Prisoners posing a suicide risk are housed in separate cells that corrections officers check every 15 minutes.

“He wanted to know what time it was,” the sheriff said.

When corrections officers came back at 12:17 a.m., “They found him hanging, ran in and cut him down,” Swanson said.

Stark County Coroner Dr. P.S. Murthy said Marshall was pronounced dead at Mercy Medical Center at 1:06 a.m. Murthy said he died of asphyxiation from the hanging.

Marshall, who had nothing in the cell but the mattress and the specially-designed “suicide prevention” garment that can’t be torn or tied into a knot, had peeled the outer skin from the vinyl-coated mattress and used it to hang himself, said Rick Walters, Murthy’s investigator.

Marshall had been booked into the jail shortly after 2 p.m. Friday and held in lieu of $100,000 bond, jail records said.

He was arrested and charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, pandering obscenity involving a minor and importuning Thursday night after agents of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found the girl in his apartment.

Court records said the Marshall arranged for her bus ride to Ohio, and that the two engaged in sexual intercourse. Task force agent Bobby Grizzard, who is also a Massillon Police detective, said that the girl met Marshall online and her parents were flying in from Sacramento to reunite with her.

Police said Marshall was unemployed and living alone when they found the girl.

Marshall’s brother, Raymond Marshall, said the girl had told his brother and several other family members that she is 23.

“Around the holiday time, he said he had been talking to a nice girl on the computer, that he had been slightly acquainted with her, and she had even talked to his daughters,” said his sister, Sharon Marshall.

He was the father of two girls, ages 11 and 13, and shared parenting with his ex-wife, she said.

A member of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Richard Marshall graduated in 1983 from Perry High School and went straight into the U.S. Marine Corps, said his brother, also a Marine.

After serving three or four years, he went to work as a truck driver for Fleming Foods, where he remained for 13 years, his brother and other family members said.

“He was a big Steelers fan,” said Raymond Marshall. “He loved to fish. He loved to bowl.”

Then he was severely injured in a car crash. He could no longer work.

“(Doctors) didn’t expect him to come out of it,” said Sharon Marshall. “He did, but it left him with a severe head injury and problems with motor skills and walking. Mentally, he was just as sharp as he always was. He was in accounting in the Marine Corps.

“Physically and emotionally, it took its toll. With his physical disability, it was harder for him to meet people. His right leg and his right arm shook like someone with Parkinson’s disease.”

In the year it took to recover, during which time he couldn’t leave the house, Richard Marshall grew interested in his computer, his siblings said. It provided a method of communication that kept him physically invisible.

Through it, family members and police confirmed, he met the girl from California.

When he was arrested Thursday night, Richard Marshall was being treated for severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, his brother said.

Sharon Marshall said her brother’s divorce, followed by the deaths of both parents, a grandmother and a sister, took as much of a toll on him as did recent news from doctors that his physical condition wasn’t improving.

Swanson confirmed Marshall was under special precautions. Swanson said corrections officers did what they were supposed to do and that no internal investigation is pending.

Murthy continued to investigate Marshall’s death on Saturday. ..more.. by Lori Monsewicz at (330) 580-8309 or e-mail: lori.monsewicz@cantonrep.com

UK- Pensioner in sex abuse inquiry killed himself

3-25-2008 United Kingdom:

A PENSIONER linked to a major child sex abuse inquiry shot himself the day before he was due to be questioned by Hampshire police, an inquest was told.

Anthony Whitlock was found slumped in his armchair with a shotgun wound to the head - 24 hours before he was set to speak to detectives about a string of alleged offences in the 1960s and '70s.

An inquest into his death heard how the 72-year-old, of Green Lane, New Milton, took his own life as he "did not want to suffer the consequences of his past".

advertisementGiving evidence at Southampton coroner's court, Detective Constable Beth Morgan-Elliott said Mr Whitlock was originally arrested on January 4 this year on suspicion of child abuse, indecent assault and rape.

Before he could be questioned, he was taken ill and was admitted to hospital in Bournemouth.

While on bail, the inquest heard, Mr Whitlock had made "minor admissions" about his past actions to his partner, Myra Moore.

He had also begun to show signs of depression and had threatened to kill himself, the court was told.

But even though his condition appeared to improve, his partner arrived home on January 16 to find him dead.

Detained Police referred the pensioner's death to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) because of his recent contact with detectives.

Hampshire Police confirmed that he had been detained as part of Operation Crossbow - a squad set up to investigate allegations that children in the New Milton area were subjected to physical and sexual abuse in the 1970s.

Coroner Gordon Denson recorded a verdict of suicide.

l Nine people are awaiting trial as part of the police inquiry.

A plea hearing took place at Southampton Crown Court and proceedings were adjourned until May with a trial date set for September.

Another defendant, Kenneth Milton, 71, died at his home in Ventnor Court, Southampton, earlier this year.

Milton had been charged with indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 14. ..more.. by Echo Reporter

TX- Serial Rapist Commits Suicide Before Sentencing

2-21-2007 Texas:

.A Dallas man who prosecutors call a serial rapist will not go to jail for his crimes. That's because Robert Eugene Bird committed suicide by hanging hours before he was scheduled to face a punishment of life in prison. Bird's string of abductions and rapes were not widely publicized three years ago. But Dallas County prosecutors said he's one of the most vile criminals they've encountered.

Still, those prosecutors and his victims didn't want him to die before he could spend time in prison. "By committing suicide, he's avoided that too and that just doesn't seem fair," said one of his victims. The 31-year-old Dallas woman was on her way to work in March 2004 when she was attacked. Bird, a 61-year-old retired Vietnam veteran, pleaded guilty last week to raping two women.

Prosecutors said three years ago, Bird trolled northeast Dallas streets in a white van looking for victims. He subdued them with weapons that included duct tape, an ice pick and a stun gun. Two of Bird's victims now feel victimized again by their tormentor. It also leaves prosecutors worried that other possible victims of Bird will never be found. "There are other victims out there," said prosecutor Rebecca Dodds. "He indicated to [his victims] while they were being attacked that he had done this before and in fact had gotten away with it." ..more.. : by CBS 11 News

MD- Hunter Finds Convicted Child Rapist Dead of Suicide

12-7-2007 Maryland:

On Thursday morning, St. Mary’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) detectives responded to a wooded area in Charlotte Hall after a hunter found a dead man hanging from a tree.

Police identified the man as George R. Hayes, 50 of Marshal Road, Mechanicsville.

St. Mary’s Sheriff Sgt. Steve Hall said it appeared Haynes took his own life within the last few days.

Sgt. Hall, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said there was no immediate indication of foul play, and the man’s hands were not bound together.

BCI detectives are continuing to investigate.

Hayes is listed as a “Child Sexual Offender” on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry after being convicted on charges of gross sexual imposition/rape. ..more.. by Sean Rice