James Clayton was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Lori Barrett
According to court documents James Clayton would break into the home of school teacher Lori Barrett. Lori Barrett would be fatally shot, her body wrapped up in carpet and secured with an electrical cord and disposed of in the woods. James would be seen driving the victim’s car and evidence found at his home would tie him to the murder
James Clayton would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
James Clayton would be executed by lethal injection on May 25 2000
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When Was James Clayton Executed
James Clayton was executed on May 25 2000
James Clayton Case
Lori Barrett was last seen alive as she left her night job, at the Dillard’s department store in Abilene, Texas, on the evening of Sept. 17, 1987. That night, Barrett’s co-worker, Pamela Cummings, unsuccessfully attempted to call Lori at home, between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. The next morning, Cummings again unsuccessfully tried to contact Lori. Lori, also a teacher at the Hawley, Texas, elementary school, failed to report to work on the morning of Sept. 18. Cummings was alarmed because Lori should have arrived home from Dillard’s between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m on Sept. 17. Cummings then contacted Lori’s school principal to determine if she was ill, and, finding that the administration had not heard from her, Cummings informed the Hawley School District’s superintendent of her inability to make contact with Lori. The superintendent, Cecil Davis, was familiar with Lori’s usual work habits and decided that her unusual absence warranted a visit to her house. Davis drove to Lori’s house in Abilene, knocked on the door and, receiving no response, asked her neighbors if they had seen her. The neighbors stated that they had not seen Lori, and Davis immediately went to an Abilene police station. His report (along with another similar report by Lori’s sister) prompted the Abilene Police Department to begin a missing person investigation.
Later that day, members of the Abilene Police Department, escorted by Lori’s brother-in-law, entered Lori’s house. The locked house appeared to be in normal condition (although the security chain had been left latched on the front door), but on closer inspection it was discovered that a bathroom window was slightly ajar, that a sink tile had been dislodged and that a small amount of grass was in the sink. The bathroom window was known to be difficult to operate, and Lori had always needed the assistance of her brother-in-law to open it. A police officer also found scrape marks on the outside of the window frame that were consistent with prying with a flat blade screwdriver. A screwdriver was found on a brick ledge nearby. Lori’s car was also missing. Police also found an earring Lori had worn on Sept. 17, and a curling iron with the cord cut off.
Shortly thereafter, the Abilene police were called to the Abilene Christian University (ACU) campus to investigate a wrecked and abandoned car. The police determined that the car belonged to Lori Barrett. In the interim, Lori’s family had decided to hire William Hurley, a private investigator. Hurley began to investigate the circumstances surrounding the wrecked car, and eventually questioned one of James Edward Clayton’s acquaintances who had seen Clayton with the car around 11:00 p.m. on the night of Sept. 17, and also at the time of the wreck on the morning of the 18th. The acquaintance told Hurley that Clayton said that he had borrowed the car from someone named Lori.
On Sept. 23, police officers went to James Clayton’s residence, a garage apartment approximately half a block away from Lori’s house. Clayton was told that the police were investigating the accident involving Lori’s car, and Clayton admitted that he had been driving the car without her permission. James Clayton was advised of his rights and then consented to a search of his apartment. Following questioning, Clayton declined to voluntarily accompany officers to the Abilene police station, and was arrested for unlawful use of a motor vehicle. In a trash dumpster outside James Clayton’s apartment, Lori’s sister discovered the license plate from Lori’s car, mail with Lori’s name on it, and a bag. The bag contained a belt which Lori had worn on Sept.17th and a partially eaten hamburger. A search warrant for Clayton’s residence was obtained on Sept. 24, and, once inside, the police discovered an insurance card with Lori Barrett’s name on it.
Following publicity in the local media and at Barrett’s church, a large scale search for her began in the Abilene area. Her body was ultimately found on Sept. 29 in neighboring Jones County. The body, already in a state of advanced decomposition, was wrapped in a blanket, secured with black electrical wire. A Remington Peters .243 caliber cartridge case was also found. Lori Barrett’s body was identified through the use of dental records.
The police then obtained an evidentiary search warrant for certain items they had previously observed in Clayton’s apartment. Among the items seized there were a pair of boots, a Winchester .243 caliber rifle, and .243 caliber ammunition. Lab analysis of the rifle and ammunition produced a positive match with the cartridge case found at the scene. Clayton was then charged with murder and capital murder.
Clayton had been extremely agitated because his girlfriend, in the days prior to Lori’s disappearance, was trying to end their relationship. Clayton was reportedly upset and wanted to “kill his girlfriend and her parents and their dog.” Clayton told a friend that he had been in the military, that he “was trained to kill,” that “killing was the only way he could vent his anger, and it was the only thing he could do about it.” Lori’s neighbor recalled having heard screams at approximately 9:55 p.m. on the night of her disappearance, and the volume and duration of the screams prompted him to arm himself prior to investigating the sound. Although he was unable to locate the source, the screams were loud enough to be heard over the sounds of a rainstorm that night.
The coroner, Dr. James Weiner, stated that there had been two “through-and-through” high velocity gunshot wounds to Lori’s head and neck. He also noted that a ligature and gag had been applied to her neck and mouth, respectively. The doctor explained that although Lori’s body had only been deceased for a maximum of 12 days, the mechanics of decomposition had been accelerated by the mid-Sept. heat. This had produced a body condition in which it was impossible to determine whether other factors, e.g., manual or ligature strangulation, had contributed to Barrett’s death. Thus, the medical examiner could only be certain as to the rifle wounds, and he announced that although strangulation could not be ruled out as a theoretical cause of death, the gunshot wounds were certainly fatal and that the proper cause of death should be listed as “homicidal violence.”
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/releases/2000/20000525claytonfacts.htm