Don Hawkins was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of Linda Thompson
According to court documents Don Hawkins would carjack Linda Thompson and her two young children. The trio were driven to a home where Thompson was separated from her children. The next day Linda Thompson would be driven to a lake where she was hogtied and drowned
Don Hawkins would flee the State and soon after would kidnap and sexually assault two teenage girls
Don Hawkins would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Don Hawkins would be executed by lethal injection on April 8 2003
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When Was Don Hawkins Executed
Don Hawkins was executed on April 8 2003
Don Hawkins Case
He said he was ready to go and he went. But for the family of the woman he killed almost 18 years ago, “it wasn’t an even swap.” “The wheels of justice have finally come all the way around,” Larry Olson said Thursday night. “It wasn’t an even swap.” Olson, his sister Jennifer Schneider and three other members of his family had just witnessed the execution of the sixth Oklahoma inmate put to death this year.
Don Wilson Hawkins Jr. was pronounced dead at 6:07 p.m., just two minutes after a mixture of lethal drugs began flowing into his veins. After a last meal of a stuffed crust pizza with extra cheese and a Dr. Pepper, he was executed for the August 1985 drowning death of Linda Ann Thompson in Sportsman’s Lake, near Seminole. As the blinds blocking the state’s execution chamber from view rose at 6:04 p.m., Hawkins raised his head from the gurney to which he was strapped and smiled. Spotting his wife Joelle, whom he had married while he was on death row, he said “I love you” then began to address the others in the witness room.
Addressing his attorney and an investigator, Hawkins said “You guys keep fighting,” then told two spiritual advisors in the room to “carry the torch.” “The state needs vengeance for the crimes I’ve done,” Hawkins said. “They’re going to punish my body but Jesus has forgiven me. I’m truly sorry I got everyone into this. … I’m ready to go.” His smile didn’t fade until the drugs began flowing. His eyes closed, then opened part way. He didn’t move again.
“It’s important we remember the victims,” Olson said. “There are multiple victims here.” Linda Ann Thompson was 29 years old when she and her two daughters, Lori and Katie, aged four years and 18 months, respectively, were kidnapped from a free-standing postal station at an Oklahoma City shopping mall. According to court documents, Hawkins and co-defendant Dale Shelton had been on the lookout for someone to kidnap for ransom when Thompson pulled up to the postal station. Hawkins forced his way into Thompson’s car, taking the car to his girlfriend’s house while Shelton followed in Hawkins’ vehicle. Once at the house, Thompson was separated from her daughters and chained to the loft of a barn near the house. Over the next 18 hours, Thompson was sexually assaulted several times by Shelton and a teen-aged male. Hawkins was never convicted of sexually assaulting Thompson.
“I know what I did and what I did was terrible,” Hawkins said in a 2002 interview with the News-Capital & Democrat. “But at least I don’t have that particular crime on my conscience.” After realizing that they would not be able to get a ransom payment for Thompson, Hawkins and Shelton let her say good-bye to her daughters, then loaded her into a car and drove east. The daughters were released in their baby-sitter’s neighborhood.
Court documents indicate Hawkins and Shelton had initially planned to release Thompson in a secluded area while they got away, but Hawkins drowned her after realizing she would be able to identify her kidnappers and attackers. Hawkins and Shelton were arrested two months later in Sacramento, Calif. Shelton is serving a life sentence for his part in the crime.
Hawkins was later linked to the July 1985 robbery and murder of David Coupez in Denver, Colo., a crime to which he pleaded guilty, as well as to several kidnappings and sexual assaults in California.
“At every family gathering there’s an empty chair that will never be filled,” said Schneider, Thompson’s mother. “Linda was – is a wonderful daughter that will live forever in my heart.” “Linda will be forever 29,” Olson said. “Her two children have grown and flourished. We have a wonderful family and we’ll be OK.”
http://www.mcalesternews.com/articles/2003/04/09/news/local_news/news01.txt
