John Castro was executed by the State of Oklahoma for two murders
According to court documents John Castro would murder Beulah Grace Sissons Cox, 31 after he was picked up hitch hiking
Four months later John Castro would murder Rhonda Pappan, 29, during a robbery
John Castro would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
John Castro would be executed by lethal injection on January 7 1999
John Castro Case
John Walter Castro Sr., a twice convicted murderer who said he likely would have killed more people had he remained free, was executed by injection early today.
Castro, 37, was declared dead at 12:22 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He became the third killer executed in Oklahoma in a month and the 14th put to death by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977.
Before the execution began, Castro turned to look toward a room where relatives of his victims were watching and said, “I don’t who’s behind that one-way glass but whoever is here from the Cox family, I am sorry for what I did. And anybody who is here from the Pappan family I am sorry. For the people who are here for me, thank you.
Castro also made mention of the death penalty opponents praying for him outside the prison and of Sean Sellers, who faces execution Feb. 4 after being convicted in three 1986 killings at age 16.
“My son wanted to be here,” he said. “They say he can’t because he’s 16 and that’s too young to witness an execution. if that is so, why can the state of Oklahoma convict, sentence to death and execute a 16-year-old child. I just don’t understand
Castro then glanced at his witnesses and said, “I love you. Let’s do it.”
Moments later, he said “I feel it,” then closed his eyes and was pronounced dead several minutes after that.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Castro’s last appeal more than a month ago, and the state Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-0 to deny him clemency last month
Juries condemned Castro in the unrelated murders of two women, but one death penalty was later overturned.
Castro was executed for the April 18, 1983, death of Beulah Grace Sissons Cox, 31, near Stillwater. Castro, who was hitchhiking, stole her car at gunpoint. Castro assured Cox that he wouldn’t kill her but shot her in the head several times
About three months later, Castro killed Rhonda Pappan, 29, while robbing the Hobo-T Restaurant in Ponca City. Pappan, the owner-manager, picked up a knife but was overpowered by Castro, who stabbed her in the neck, back and chest.
In a joint statement, members of the victims’ families said Cox left behind children ages 6 and 10, and Pappan’s children were 8 and 11.
“These four young children were forced to grow into young adults without the love, care and understanding of the mothers whom they loved very much,” the statement said. “Although nothing can change the fact that our loved ones are gone, we can feel some form of closure in the fact that the judicial process has finally concluded.”
For his last meal, Castro ate a large thick-crust pizza with everything but anchovies, a strawberry milkshake and a half-dozen glazed doughnuts.
Castro requested five witnesses, including his attorney, Robert Jackson, Vicki Werneke and Kim Marks of the federal public defender’s office, and two women he has corresponded with, Karen Woo of England and Patricia Peck of West Virginia
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1999/01/07/state-puts-to-death-convicted-murderer/62257054007/
