Robert Williams Executed For 3 Nebraska Murders

Robert Williams was executed by the State of Nebraska for the murders of three women

According to court documents during a three day period Robert Williams would murder three women and attempted to murder a fourth. Williams would murder Catherine Brooks and Patricia McGarry in Nebraska and Virginia Rowe in Iowa. The fourth women was sexually assaulted and shot in Minnesota

Robert Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Robert Williams would be executed by way of the electric chair on December 2 1997

Robert Williams Photos

Robert Williams - Nebraska

Robert Williams Case

In the late afternoon of August 11, 1977, the bodies of Patricia A. McGarry and Catherine M. Brooks were found in the McGarry apartment in Lincoln, Nebraska, after a search was instituted when neighbors found the 5-year-old daughter of Catherine Brooks wandering in the neighborhood looking for her mother.

The naked body of Catherine Brooks was found lying face down in the center of the living room floor. A pool of blood surrounded her head. There was a nonfatal bullet wound in her back and two bullet wounds behind her left ear. Later medical examination revealed spermatozoa in the vagina and in the rectal tract. The pathologist testified that the spermatozoa would have had to be deposited within an hour of her death.

The body of Patricia McGarry was lying in the dining room, face up, clad in a blue housecoat. She had also been shot three times, once under her right ear and twice in the neck. There was a bloody trail on the carpet from the living room into the dining room to the spot where Patricia’s body lay.

The police found an empty beer bottle with latent fingerprints on a chair. Later examination established the fingerprints as those of the defendant. The police also found a full box of .22 caliber long rifle shells on the coffee table in the living room and another unfired .22 caliber shell on the sofa. The casing of a .22 caliber shell was found on the floor of the living room. There was a bullet hole in the wall between the living and dining rooms, and a spent bullet was found in the entryway between the two rooms. Later investigation established that on August 10, 1977, at approximately 7:15 p. m., a model K-22 Smith & Wesson .22 caliber revolver and five boxes of .22 caliber long rifle shells were purchased by the defendant at a store in Lincoln.

Evidence at trial established that on August 11, 1977, at approximately 9:30 a. m., the defendant appeared at the apartment of another young woman in Lincoln, Nebraska. She had been acquainted with the defendant for approximately 6 months and he had been a babysitter for her 2-year-old daughter on occasion. The defendant told the woman that his car was broken down and asked to use her telephone. She admitted him and he then told her he needed to stay in her apartment for a while. She suggested that he stay in the storage room area of the apartment complex instead. The defendant then drew a revolver and demanded that she have sexual relations with him. She tried to lock herself in the bathroom but the defendant forced the door open and broke off the lock. He struck her in the chest and on the side of the head with the gun and threatened to blow her head off, and then raped her. The defendant remained in the apartment for several hours and raped the woman repeatedly.

At approximately 4 p. m., the defendant ordered the woman to bring her 2-year-old child and go to his car with him. As they approached the curb he told her she was free to go. She immediately went to a neighbor’s home and called the police.

The woman testified that during the time the defendant had been with her, he drank one beer and smoked a joint of marijuana but appeared normal and did not appear to be intoxicated. Other witnesses who had been with the defendant on August 10, and one as late as 1:30 a. m., on August 11, 1977, testified that on those occasions the defendant *22 appeared normal in speech and actions and did not appear to be intoxicated, although he had been drinking.

The evidence at trial established that defendant left the woman’s apartment in Lincoln about 4 p. m., August 11, 1977, and about an hour later was seen at a service station in Fremont, Nebraska, some 50 miles away, where he stopped and purchased gasoline. The station attendant testified that the defendant’s speech and coordination appeared to be normal, although he smelled alcohol on the defendant’s breath.

At approximately 10:15 p. m., on August 11, 1977, a deputy sheriff observed and checked the defendant’s car at a park and rest area in Cherokee County, Iowa, and checked it periodically thereafter through the night. At 6:15 a. m., the deputy had the car towed away. Upon examination of the car, the deputies discovered a packaging box for a Smith & Wesson K-22 revolver; a box of .22 caliber long rifle cartridges from which six cartridges had been removed; a bag of marijuana; and some gas cans with negroid hairs on them.

Shortly after 6 a. m., on August 12, 1977, Mrs. Jack Montgomery, who lived 1½ miles west of the park and rest area in which defendant’s car had been found, discovered that her car was missing from the garage. There was a blanket in the car and another blanket was also missing. She also found a checkbook with the name of the defendant imprinted on the checks lying in the driveway in front of the garage. At approximately 10 o’clock the same morning the Montgomery car was found abandoned in a ditch about 20 miles northeast of the Montgomery farm.

A little after 7 a. m., on the same morning, Elbert Bredvick was standing in his farmyard approximately 5 miles southwest of the point at which the Montgomery car had been abandoned. Bredvick observed the defendant approaching carrying two blankets draped over his shoulder. The defendant asked for directions to the nearest town. Bredvick gave the defendant directions which led defendant past the Wayne Rowe farmhouse one-half mile to the west, and the defendant departed in that direction.

On the morning of August 12, 1977, Mrs. Wayne Rowe left the farm home at 7:45 a. m., for an appointment at her hairdresser. Wayne Rowe left the house about 8:15 a. m., and returned shortly after noon, expecting his wife to be home. He observed that his wife’s car was gone and when he entered the house he saw his wife’s purse on the chair and the morning mail on the table. About that time an Iowa state trooper arrived and Rowe and the trooper went upstairs and found Mrs. Rowe’s naked body on the bed. There was a shotgun wound in her side and another in her back, and there was a wound in her neck from a .22 caliber bullet. Later examination established that she had also been sexually assaulted.

Negroid hairs were found in her hand and on the bedspread which compared favorably in diameter, coloration, pigment distribution, scale patterns, and medullation to samples taken from the defendant and the hairs found on the gas cans in his car. A .22 caliber bullet was found in the fibers of the bedspread which matched the bullets recovered from the bodies of Catherine Brooks and Patricia McGarry. A shotgun which had been kept in the Rowe home was missing and the telephone line had been cut.

In the bushes behind the Rowe garage officers found the blankets which were identified by Bredvick as the blankets that had been draped over the defendant’s shoulder earlier that morning. The Rowe car was found later in St. Paul, Minnesota. Inside the car was a live round of .22 caliber ammunition and a misfired cartridge with a firing pin impression which matched a casing found at the murder scene.

On August 13, 1977, at approximately 1:30 p. m., in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, the defendant confronted Walter Behun at gunpoint in the Behun yard and ordered Behun to drive him to St. Paul. They drove around for some time, ending at a railroad freight yard, where the defendant tied Behun up with belts and a sweat shirt, gagged him, and left him in a caboose. Behun *23 testified that the defendant did not appear to be intoxicated.

About 3 p. m., on August 13, 1977, a young woman was returning to her car in a parking lot in St. Paul, Minnesota. She opened the car door and placed her purchase on the floor. The defendant came up behind her and ordered her to get into the car or he would shoot her. Before she had time to do so, he shot her once in the arm and again later behind her left ear. The defendant pushed her into the car, demanded the keys, and drove to a remote country area where he raped her. After the assault, the defendant tied her hands and legs and drove off in her car. She managed to untie herself, got to a farmhouse and was taken to the hospital, where she ultimately recovered.

The evidence indicates that after August 13, 1977, the defendant went to Chicago, Illinois, and then back to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was arrested in the railroad yards on the early morning of August 18, 1977.

https://law.justia.com/cases/nebraska/supreme-court/1979/42235-1.html

Robert Williams Murders Velma McDowell In Ohio

Robert Williams was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murder of Velma McDowell

According to court documents Robert Williams would break into the home of eighty eight year old Velma McDowell. The woman would be sexually assaulted and murdered

Robert Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Robert Williams Photos

robert williams ohio

Robert Williams Now

Number
A381764
DOB
06/05/1964
Gender
Male
Race
Black
Admission Date
09/08/1999
Institution
Chillicothe Correctional Institution
Status
INCARCERATED

Robert Williams Case

A man who told police he had consensual sex with an 88-year-old woman but had nothing to do with her death was convicted Wednesday of killing and raping her.

Robert Williams Jr., 35, told police that Velma McDowell invited him into her apartment Feb. 18 and they had sex. He said he panicked afterward and placed a pair of pantyhose around her neck, pulling once but not killing her.

A jury convicted Williams of murder, rape, burglary and robbery. Jurors will begin deciding Thursday whether he should be sentenced to die or given life in prison. Prosecutors will push for the death penalty.

Defense attorney Merle Dech said he wouldn’t comment until the sentence is determined.

Williams was staying with his mother at the apartment complex where Mrs. McDowell lived. Neighbors said Mrs. McDowell often left her door open and they saw Williams near her apartment around the time of the slaying.

He shoved a rag down her throat, raped her and strangled her with the pantyhose, police said. He admitted taking about $300 from her purse to pay for a car and crack cocaine.

https://apnews.com/article/780335773a4cdb272b791a315ccdc14e

Robert Williams Executed For Robbery Murder

Robert Williams was executed by the State of Louisiana for a murder committed during a robbery

According to court documents Robert Williams would rob a grocery store and in the process would shoot and kill a guard

Robert Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Robert Williams would be executed on December 14, 1983 by way of the electric chair

Robert Williams FAQ

When was Robert Williams executed

Robert Williams was executed on December 14 1983

How was Robert Williams executed

Robert Williams was executed by way of the electric chair

Robert Williams Case

Convicted killer Robert Wayne Williams, proclaiming he hoped his death would serve as a statement ‘that capital punishment is no good and never has been,’ was executed early Wednesday.

He was the first person to die in Louisiana’s electric chair since 1961 and the 10th person to be executed in the United States since 1977.

He was pronounced dead by Dr. Alfred Gould at 1:15 a.m. CST, 1 hour and 10 minutes after the U.S. Supreme court rejected a last-ditch appeal to halt the execution. Prison officials said the switch on the electric chair was thrown at 1:06 a.m.

‘It went peacefully. There were no problems at all,’ said Mike Martin, undersecretary of corrections.

Williams, carrying a blue handkerchief in one hand, was escorted to the chair at 12:55 a.m. and bound by eight straps, including one that held his chin. A grey hood was placed over his head.

His hands :lenched when the switch triggering the first of a rapid series of 2,000 volts was thrown. His body became rigid. The four jolts of electricity spanned 1 minute, 10 seconds.

A small flame and a wisp of smoke was visible from around the strap on his left leg.

Gould, who pronounced the last prisoner to die in the state’s electric chair 22 years ago, then removed the hood from Williams’ head, closed the convict’s eyes and placed the hood back over his head.

The Rev. J.D. Brown said Williams had written his own eulogy for a Friday night funeral in Baton Rouge.

‘I believe. I feel deeply in the heart that God has come into my life and saved me,’ Williams said minutes before he was executed.

‘I told the truth about what happened,’ Williams said. ‘If my death do happen I would like it to be a remembrance for the whole country that would be a deterrence against capital punishment and that capital punishment is no good and never has been good.’

Williams, 31, was convicted in the Jan. 5, 1979, slaying of 67-year-old security guard Willie Kelly during a robbery at a Baton Rouge grocery store.

The execution was delayed one hour on the orders of Gov. Dave Treen to enable attorneys time to file a final appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. But Justice Byron White rejected the plea — that Williams was unaware of his right to overrule his attorney and testify in his own behalf — shortly before midnight

Two months ago, White had issued a stay in a similar last-minute appeal on the execution of convicted Texas killer James David Autry.

Robert Williams was the 10th person put to death in the United States since executions were resumed with the death of Gary Gilmore before a Utah firing squad in 1977.

He was also the second black man put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 lifted its ban on capital punishment.

Williams pleaded for a life prison sentence instead of execution, but his request was rejected by the state Pardon Board a week before he died. An 11th-hour appeal to Treen also was rejected.

Robert Williams claimed his sawed-off shotgun went off accidentally while he was under the influence of drugs.

Earlier, Williams was turned down by U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola. Polozola’s one-sentence rejection sent the condemned man’s attorney back to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

But the three-judge federal appeals panel also rejected the plea, saying Williams’ contention he was never advised of his right to testify should have been presented in previous hearings.

Treen said he read all court documents in the case, and was guided by ‘wise counsel, sincere advice and prayers by :lergy.’

I do not find that the judicial system has failed or that there is any other justification for the exercise of the extraordinary clemency power given the governor,’ Treen said.

As the time drew nearer to his execution, prison officials said they believed Williams resigned himself to death.

‘He’s very quiet right now,’ Warden Ross Maggio said less than two hours before the execution.

Robert Williams, his head shaved, awaited his death in a cell less than 25 feet from ‘Gruesome Gertie,’ the 6-foot-tall chair built in 1941 and last used in 1961 to execute Jesse James Ferguson. Williams declined a last meal, Maggio said.

Williams’ family left the prison at 6 p.m. His mother, Rosella, an assistant minister at the Church of God in Baton Rouge, returned to address a small group of protesters huddled in the cold wind outside the isolated compound.

‘My heart is grieved because I know my son Robert had an unfair trial,’ she said. ‘If this had been a rich man he would not be faced with the electric chair tonight. Therefore, we can say there is no justification in capital punishment.’

About 30 protesters held a vigil on the muddy grounds until they received word Robert Williams was dead.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/12/14/Convicted-killer-Robert-Wayne-Williams-proclaiming-he-hoped-his/6076440226000/