Charles Thompson was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for a double murder
According to court documents Charles Thompson would get into an argument with a couple and would have to be escorted out by the police. Thompson would return the next morning and kicked the door in, shooting and killing the male victim and shooting the female victim who would die later at the hospital
Charles Thompson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Update – Charles Thompson was executed by lethal injection on January 28 2026 by lethal injection
Charles Thompson Photos
Charles Thompson Now
| Name | Thompson, Charles Victor | |
| TDCJ Number | 999306 | |
| Date of Birth | 06/13/1970 | |
| Date Received | 05/05/1999 | |
| Age (when Received) | 28 | |
| Education Level (Highest Grade Completed) | 10 | |
| Date of Offense | 04/30/1998 | |
| Age (at the time of Offense) | 27 | |
| County | Harris | |
| Race | White | |
| Gender | Male | |
| Hair Color | Brown | |
| Height (in Feet and Inches) | 6′ 0″ | |
| Weight (in Pounds) | 216 | |
| Eye Color | Blue | |
| Native County | Harris | |
| Native State | Texas |
Charles Thompson Case
Condemned killer Charles Victor Thompson’s three-day run to freedom ended on a bicycle Sunday night in front of a liquor store in Shreveport, La., police said.
The Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force got a tip Sunday that led Shreveport police and the U.S. Marshals Service to the 200 block of 70th Street, where officers saw a man they thought to be Thompson on a bicycle talking on a pay phone in front of the liquor store about 8:02 p.m. When asked to identify himself, the man replied, “You know who I am
Thompson, 35, appeared to be intoxicated, and police said they did not know who he was talking to on the phone. He was arrested and booked into the Caddo Parish Jail, where he will be held until he can be returned to Texas, said Lt. John Martin of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. A court hearing is expected to occur today in Shreveport.
The arrest ended a massive manhunt that began midafternoon Thursday when Thompson, under a death sentence for the 1998 murders of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, slipped away from the Harris County Jail at 1200 Baker. The inmate, who was awaiting transfer to death row, had gotten loose from handcuffs, slipped into street clothes and convinced jailers that he was a state investigator.
The multiagency manhunt was led by federal fugitive trackers at the Marshals Service through the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force.
Marianne Matus, spokeswoman for the Houston office of the U.S. Marshals Service, said Thompson was charged on Friday afternoon with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The charge sometimes is used by federal authorities to avoid extradition delays if a fugitive has left the state. The federal charge allows a bypass of normal extradition proceedings between state jurisdictions proceedings.
She said the search involved numerous leads in Texas and elsewhere
Thompson, who spent six years on death row, was back in Houston after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that his rights were violated during sentencing in his 1999 trial. A jury here last month sentenced him again to death for the shooting deaths of Hayslip, who was from Tomball, and Cain, of Spring
Thursday afternoon, after visiting with an attorney authorities have declined to identify, Thompson changed from his jail garb into khaki pants and a dark shirt he apparently kept after the court appearance.
He slipped out of the visitor’s booth, leaving behind his jail uniform and handcuffs. Investigators have not determined how he got out of the cuffs. He then talked his way out of the building, telling deputies he was a state investigator.
Sheriff’s spokesman Martin said Saturday that human error — and likely a little help from some unknown person — made Thompson’s getaway possible.
Matus said the Marshals Service put extraordinary resources into tracking Thompson.
https://www.usmarshals.gov/investigations/most_wanted/thompson.htm
Charles Thompson Execution
A Texas man who once escaped custody and spent three days on the run after being sentenced to death for fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend was put to death Wednesday, becoming the first person executed in the United States this year.
Charles Thompson, 55, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CST following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the April 1998 shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Glenda Dennise Hayslip, 39, and her new boyfriend, Darren Keith Cain, 30, at the woman’s suburban Houston apartment.
In his final words, Charles Thompson asked the families of his victims find it in their hearts to forgive him, adding “that you can begin to heal and move past this.”
“There are no winners in this situation,” he said after a spiritual adviser prayed over him for about 3 minutes and shortly before a lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered. He said his execution “creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later.”
“I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for what happened, and I want to tell all of y’all, I love you and that keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first,” he added.
As the injection began taking effect, Thompson gasped loudly, then took about a dozen breaths that evolved into three snores. Then all movement ceased and he was pronounced dead 22 minutes later.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the execution brought long-awaited closure to the victims’ families.
“This is an incredibly solemn moment when the state takes a life,” Teare said. “But the relief that this is over for them was palpable.”
Prosecutors had said Thompson and Hayslip had been romantically involved for a year but split after Thompson “became increasingly possessive, jealous and abusive.”
According to court records, Hayslip and Cain were dating when Thompson came to Hayslip’s apartment and began arguing with Cain around 3 a.m. the night of the killings. Police were called and told Thompson to leave the apartment complex. He returned three hours later and shot both Hayslip and Cain.
Cain died at the scene, and Hayslip died in a hospital a week later.
“The Hayslip and Cain families have waited over twenty-five years for justice to occur,” prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said in court filings.
About an hour before the scheduled 6 p.m. execution, the U.S. Supreme Court – without explanation – issued a brief order rejecting Thompson’s final appeal. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had denied Thompson’s request to commute his death sentence to a lesser penalty.
Charles Thompson’s attorneys had argued in filings with the Supreme Court that he was not allowed to refute or confront the prosecution’s evidence that concluded Hayslip died from a gunshot wound to the face. Thompson’s attorneys argued that Hayslip actually died from flawed medical care she received after the shooting that resulted in severe brain damage sustained from oxygen deprivation following a failed intubation.
Prosecutors had said a jury had already rejected the claim by Thompson and decided under state law he was responsible for Hayslip’s death because it “would not have occurred but for his conduct.”
Hayslip’s family had filed a lawsuit against one of her doctors, alleging that medical negligence during her treatment left her brain-dead. A jury in 2002 found in favor of the doctor.
Charles Thompson had his original death sentence overturned and a new punishment trial was held in November 2005. A jury again ordered him to die by lethal injection.
Shortly after being resentenced, Charles Thompson escaped from the Harris County Jail in Houston by walking out the front door virtually unchallenged by deputies. He later told The Associated Press that after meeting with his attorney in a small interview cell, he slipped out of his handcuffs and orange jail jumpsuit and left the room, which was unlocked. Thompson waived an ID badge fashioned out of his prison ID card to get past several deputies.
“I got to smell the trees, feel the wind in my hair, grass under my feet, see the stars at night. It took me straight back to childhood being outside on a summer night,” Thompson said of his time on the run, speaking with AP in a 2005 interview. He was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana, while trying to arrange for wire transfers of money from overseas so he could make it to Canada.
Texas has historically held more executions than any other state though Florida had the most in 2025 with 19. The next execution in the U.S. is scheduled to be the Feb. 10 lethal injection of Ronald Palmer Health, who was convicted of killing a traveling salesman during a 1989 robbery in the Gainesville area of that state.
