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Wednesday, the state executed a guy who admitted to brutally raping and murdering a teenage girl left on the side of a Mississippi road more than two decades ago.
Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., 58, was declared dead at 6:12 p.m. after being injected with a lethal combination of chemicals at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. He was the second person to be killed in the state in the past decade.
In June of 2000, Loden pled guilty to capital murder, rape, and four counts of sexual battery for the killing of 16-year-old Leesa Marie Gray. He had been on execution row since 2011 when the guilty plea was made.
Loden, a former US Marines Corps recruiter, expressed “great regret” for the murder of Gray, a high school senior-to-be.
On June 22, 2000, while returning home from her waitressing duty at her uncle’s restaurant, the teen’s tire went flat. Loden observed her by the side of the road and stopped his vehicle, ostensibly to provide assistance.
According to reports, Loden reportedly assured Gray, “Don’t worry.” “I’m a Marine. This is the kind of work we perform.”
But instead of aiding the child, he allegedly ordered her into his truck after becoming enraged when she declared she never wanted to be a Marine.
A small group of individuals assemble in support of Leesa Marie Gray’s mother and family on the day of Loden’s execution.
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
He informed detectives that Loden sexually raped Gray for four hours into the early morning before strangling and suffocating her to death.
According to court documents, the next day Loden was discovered “laying by the side of a road with the words ‘I’m sorry’ carved into his chest and apparent self-inflicted lacerations on his wrists.”
In his final remarks on Wednesday, the convicted murderer stated that he realized he could never take back the pain he caused by killing the teenager.
“For the past two decades, I’ve attempted to make up for the life I took from this planet by performing a nice deed every single day,” he stated. “I am aware that words cannot undo the harm I have caused. If nothing else happens today, I hope you find peace and closure.”
Loden, who was tied on a stretcher while wearing a red prison jumpsuit and covered with a white sheet, reportedly concluded by saying “I love you” in Japanese.
Wanda Farris, the mother of Gray, was present at the execution. She stated that she forgave Loden many years ago, although she supports the death penalty.
She stated, “I don’t especially want to see anyone die.” “However, I do support the death penalty…. I do believe in fairness.”
Farris stated that her daughter was an always-smiling, “happy-go-lucky” adolescent who desired to become an elementary school teacher.
»Thomas Loden Jr., convicted of raping and killing a teenage girl, is executed in Mississippi«