Eliseo Moreno was executed by the State of Texas for six murders
According to court documents Eliseo Moreno was upset that his wife left him and he would react with extreme violence. Eliseo would start his spree killing with the murders of his wife’s brother and sister in law. Moreno would then murder a police officer who attempted to pull him over on a traffic violation. Eliseo would then murder Ann Bennatt, 70, a retired nurse in Hempstead; her sister, Allie Wilkins, 79, and her brother-in-law, James Bennatt, 62.
Eliseo Moreno would take a family of five hostage and forced them to drive to Pasadena where he would free them then take another man hostage before he was finally arrested
Eliseo Moreno would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Eliseo Moreno would be executed by lethal injection on March 4 1987
Eliseo Moreno Photos
Eliseo Moreno FAQ
When was Eliseo Moreno executed
Eliseo Moreno was executed on March 4 1987
How was Eliseo Moreno executed
Eliseo Moreno was executed by lethal injection
Eliseo Moreno Case
Eliseo Moreno, who killed six people and then taught bible classes in prison, was executed by injection today, saying his punishment was just and he was ready for his ‘rocket to take off’ to heaven.
Moreno, 27, who refused to allow his lawyers to seek an almost certain stay of execution on his first death warrant, died calmly at 12:19 a.m. CST today, smiling until the lethal drugs took effect.
‘I’d like to say I’m here because I’m guilty. I have no grudges or anything against nobody. The word of God tells me that the wages of sin is death,’ Moreno said in a final statement. ‘I’m willing to pay according to the law of Texas because I know I’m guilty.’
Moreno, a lawnmower repairman who once dreamed of being a police officer, killed six people including a state trooper in 1983 during a jealous rage after his wife left him. Attorney General Jim Mattox said Moreno considered his execution for the murder of the trooper his chance to go to heaven.
‘When he came in, he jumped up on the table (in the death chamber) and said he was ready for the rocket to take off so he could go home,’ Mattox said.
When one of his witnesses told Moreno he would see him ‘on the other side,’ the killer responded, ‘Darn right.’ Moreno then gave his final statement while his brother-in-law, Ruben Valdez, wept quietly and clutched a bible.
After his witnesses said goodbye, the lethal drugs were administered to the still-smiling Moreno. He then snorted loudly and his chest heaved several times before he died. His brother-in-law wrote the time of death in his bible.
Moreno’s was the 70th execution in the nation since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976 and the 22nd in Texas, which leads the nation in executions. It was the nation’s second execution of 1987.
Moreno, a teacher of prison bible classes, had refused to allow lawyers to seek a stay of execution, even though his lawyers said a reprieve would have been certain on his first death warrant.
‘I realize I did wrong and I can’t change it,’ he said when his execution date was set. ‘So I’m ready for whatever punishment is required.’
Moreno shot six people to death and kidnapped six more during his October 1983 rampage across six counties, which came after his wife, Blanca, left him. He was executed for murdering Trooper Russell Boyd.
Moreno’s other victims included his wife’s sister and brother-in-law, who refused to tell him where his estranged wife was hiding, and three elderly people who thwarted his efforts to hide after slaying the trooper.
Moreno had been drinking before the slayings but his lawyer, Richard Tindal, said he thought the violence grew more out of anger than drunkenness.
‘I think most of it was the jealousy factor,’ he said. ‘He just lost it.’
Moreno later wrote survivors of several of his victims seeking their forgiveness. He also asked his family not to intervene to block his death.
On Nov. 4, 1983, before his trial in Boyd’s death, Moreno attempted suicide by wrapping a plastic bag around his neck.
Moreno spent Tuesday talking and playing dominoes with other death-row inmates and visiting with a prison chaplain. He declined breakfast, saying he wanted to wait for the ‘big meal,’ a prison spokeswoman said.
Moreno was transferred at 4:20 p.m. to the death house, where he ate a final meal of four cheese enchiladas, two fish patties, french fried potatoes with ketchup, milk and lemon pie at 5:30 p.m.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/03/04/Condemned-killer-welcomes-death/9571541832400/
