Gary Heidnik was executed by the State of Pennsylvania for two murders in a case that is referred to as the House Of Horrors
Gary Heidnik was a serial rapist who would kidnap six women and kept them in a self dug pit that he created in his basement. Two of the women would be murdered: 24-year-old Sandra Lindsay and 23-year-old Deborah Dudley
Gary Heidnik would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Gary Heidnik would be executed by lethal injection on July 6 1999
Gary Heidnik Photos
Gary Heidnik Case
Gary Heidnik, the “House of Horrors” killer who tortured and murdered women in his Philadelphia basement, was executed last night as late appeals failed to spare his life.
“Thank you, Jesus,” one witness from a pool of crime victims was heard to say when the Centre County coroner pronounced Heidnik dead at 10:29 p.m., according to Peter Jackson, an Associated Press media witness.
Applause also broke out in the witness chamber, Jackson said.
Gary Heidnik, 55, had maintained his innocence but did not fight his execution, saying his death would end executions in the commonwealth, according to attorneys working for Heidnik’s daughter, Maxine Davidson White of Philadelphia.
After a last meal of two cups of black coffee and two slices of cheese pizza, Heidnik was prepared for the lethal injection at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview. He had no last words and did not indicate what he wanted done with his remains.
The curtain of the execution chamber opened at 10:18 p.m. with Heidnik covered up to his shoulders with a sheet, his right arm on a support.
“His face turned deep red, then ashen,” Jackson said.
Gary Heidnik was executed about a half-hour after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene. Heidnik became the third man executed in Pennsylvania since 1962, with the other two executions carried out in 1995.
Dubbed the “House of Horrors” killer, Heidnik murdered two women in his home where he held his victims in chains, raped them and used electrical shock on them during 1986 and 1987
Unlike the frenzy that surrounded his arrest and the revelations of what had been happening in his North Philadelphia home, the scene last night was much different. About two dozen reporters waited in a hot warehouse for word of his execution and a single protester stood near the prison.
Gary Heidnik arrived at Rockview, just miles from State College, at 12:20 p.m. He was placed in a cell where an air conditioning unit down the hall kept his cell cool in the sweltering heat.
He spent the day lying or sitting on his bed or pacing in his cell, according to Corrections Department spokesman Michael Lukens.
In the last week, and especially in the last few days, Heidnik’s attorneys pursued state and federal court appeals to stop the execution.
The attorneys contend Heidnik suffered from schizophrenic delusions and was not capable of making decisions for himself.
In Harrisburg, as many as 15 opponents of the death penalty gathered outside the Governor’s Residence for a peaceful demonstration. Organizers said they decided not to travel to Rockview because they wanted to send a message to Gov. Tom Ridge.
“We feel the governor is the cause of this death taking place and we would like to be there as a presence and show our opposition to the death penalty,” said Judy Robinson of Central Pennsylvanians to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Ridge, who was with his family at his home in Erie, said Heidnik “paid the price” for his “depraved” crime.
“In doing so, he suffered far less than the women he tortured and killed,” Ridge said.
Heidnik’s execution was the first not held in Rockview’s medium-security prison building. Rather, it took place in an old hospital on the prison grounds, about a quarter of a mile from the prison.
Lukens said the change was made because past executions disrupted the routine at prison.
Heidnik traveled to Centre County from the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh where he lived for more than a decade.
Heidnik was allowed to see family, attorneys and spiritual advisers through a Plexiglas wall in a separate room, Lukens said. He received one visit from his daughter. At 5:40 p.m. he was given a last meal that he selected, Lukens said.
His execution was witnessed by six members of the news media and at 10 citizens, including J. Matthew Seagrist of Mechanicsburg. The citizens had requested to witness the execution.
Pennsylvania resumed executing prisoners after 33 years when Keith Zettlemoyer of Selinsgrove was put to death in May 1995. In 1981, Zettlemoyer was convicted of shooting a 29-year-old Sunbury man.
In August 1995, Leon Moser, who admitted killing his ex-wife and two daughters on March 31, 1985, in Montgomery County, was executed.
Zettlemoyer, Moser and Heidnik did not try to block their executions. Heidnik was granted a review of competency in April 1997 when he was originally scheduled to be executed
A disabled Army veteran, Heidnik – who was extremely successful at the stock market – kept six women in his makeshift torture chamber. Those who survived said he kept them half naked in his basement, feeding them dog food laced with human remains.
He was arrested after one of the captives escaped and alerted police.
Survivors testified that Heidnik electrocuted Deborah Johnson Dudley by touching live wires to her chains while she stood in a water-filled pit. Sandra Lindsay died while hanging by her arms from a rafter.
https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2015/01/gary_heidniks_execution_in_199.html