On
this date, April 6, 2016, Pablo Lucio Vasquez was executed by the State of
Texas for the murder of 12-year-old David Cardenas on April 18, 1998.
Pablo
Lucio Vasquez
|
|
Born
|
August
11, 1977
|
Died
|
April
6, 2016 (aged 38)
|
Criminal charge
|
Murder
|
Criminal penalty
|
Death
penalty
|
Killings
|
|
Victims
|
David
Cardenas
|
Pablo Lucio Vasquez (August 11, 1977 – April 6, 2016) was an American man
convicted of the murder of a 12-year-old boy and executed in the U.S. state of
Texas. The murder occurred in Donna,
Texas, in the state's Rio
Grande Valley region.
Due
to the way he murdered his victim, Vasquez was called "the vampire
killer".
Background
David
Cardenas, the victim, was a 12-year-old boy who lived in his sister's residence
in Alamo,
Texas.
Murder
On
April 18, 1998, Vasquez went to a party in Donna, Texas, with his 15-year-old
cousin, Andres Rafael "Andy" Chapa. During the party he became
intoxicated with cocaine
and alcohol.
At the party he met Cardenas, and while walking from the party to a house,
Vasquez hit Cardenas on the head with a pipe and cut the boy's throat. He and
Chapa took the body to a field, across a four-lane street, leaving a trail of
blood. At the field Vasquez robbed the body of valuables, cut off one arm,
severed a portion of another arm, removed skin from Cardenas's back, scalped
the body, and drank his blood, before placing the body under pieces of aluminum.
Vasquez tried to sever the boy's head with a shovel, but failed. Three
relatives of Vasquez and Chapa had attempted to conceal the crime.
Aftermath
Vasquez
was arrested in Conroe, Texas, after an anonymous tip. When
questioned by police he said that the devil told him to remove Cardenas's head.
Vasquez's
trial began in 1999, and his lawyer was James Keegan; Joseph Orendain was the
lead prosecutor. Vasquez was convicted and given a death sentence. Chapa
received a 35-year sentence after pleading guilty. The relatives who assisted
the perpetrators received fines and/or probation, and one was deported back to
Guatemala.
Vasquez
was received by the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice (TDCJ) on March 30, 1999. Initially the men's death row
was at Ellis
Unit, north of Huntsville, Texas, but in mid-1999 it moved to Polunsky
Unit near Livingston, Texas.
Vasquez's
lawyer unsuccessfully argued that he should not be executed as he was mentally
ill.
Vasquez
apologized to the victim's family before he was executed by lethal
injection at Huntsville Unit in Huntsville,
Texas on April 6, 2016. At the time of his execution, Vasquez was 38 years
old, having spent 18 years on Texas's death row.
The
execution marked the sixth in Texas and the eleventh in the United States in
2016.
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