John Allen Rubio, a 46-year-old man from Brownsville in South Texas, was executed Thursday evening for the murders of three young children he helped raise. He received a lethal injection at a state prison in Huntsville, according to The Associated Press.
Rubio was declared dead at 6:47 p.m., 21 minutes after the injection started, the AP reported. His execution had been scheduled for 6 p.m. and took place without incident. It concluded a case stemming from the killings of the children inside a windowless apartment on March 11, 2003.
The victims were Julissa Quezada, 3, John Esteban Rubio, 1, and Mary Jane Rubio, who was 2 months old. Rubio was convicted of stabbing and beheading them. Court records cited by the AP showed that he was not the biological father of the two older children, but had assumed a parental role in their lives. His common-law wife, Angela Camacho, was also prosecuted for the murders. She pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence.
In his final statement, Rubio thanked relatives and friends for their support and expressed love for his wife, the AP said. He described himself as changed from the person he had been and apologized to his wife’s family. He also acknowledged that he could not undo what had happened and said his death would not make them happy. Speaking about the children, he said: “I’m going to be with my kids in a little bit.”
Before the killings, Rubio reportedly said the children were possessed and portrayed himself as someone destined to save the world. At one stage of the case, he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Defense experts reportedly diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, a finding that experts for the prosecution disputed.
His lawyers also presented an account of a troubled upbringing. According to the AP, the defense cited childhood violence, harmful parenting, drug use and prostitution as influences that had impaired his development. The apartment building where the murders occurred was later demolished. The site has since become a community park and garden, the AP reported.
Rubio’s execution was the second of two scheduled in the United States on Thursday. Earlier, Oklahoma executed James Pavatt, 73, by lethal injection. Pavatt had been convicted of planning and carrying out the 2001 murder of his partner’s estranged husband.
