Oklahoma execution of Steven Ray Thacker set to go ahead Tuesday
From Dec. 23, 1999, to Jan. 2, 2000, Thacker killed three people in as many states, starting with the kidnapping, rape and fatal stabbing of Laci Dawn Hill, 25, of Bixby.
Handed the death penalty for Hill's slaying, he is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
"It's been 13 years too long as far as I'm concerned," Larry Eugene Griffin, Laci's father, said in a telephone interview. "Justice needs to be done for what he's done to my daughter."
Thacker used credit and debit cards stolen from Hill to purchase Christmas gifts for his family. Her body was found in an abandoned Mayes County cabin on Dec. 29, 1999, six days after he had gone to her Bixby home under the guise of buying a pool table that she had advertised in a newspaper.
"Laci was very happy-go-lucky," said Griffin, of Ponca City. "She loved shopping. She loved her pet cats and she loved her husband, Ronnie. She had everything going for her.
"She was looking forward to starting a family, and this Thacker took it all away from her."
On the lam following the Hill homicide, Thacker fled to Missouri, where he carjacked a family three days after Christmas. During a burglary, he surprised a returning homeowner, stabbing to death restaurant supervisor Forrest Boyd, 24, of Aldrich, Mo., on Jan. 1, 2000.
Stealing Boyd's vehicle, Thacker drove to Tennessee before the car broke down and he hailed a tow. On Jan. 2, 2000, he fatally stabbed service station owner Ray Patterson, 52, in Dyersburg, Tenn., after the credit card Thacker used to pay for the tow came back stolen.
Griffin still attends grief counseling.
His wife, Linda, died in September 2010. Their son, Larry, was killed six months later when he stepped off a curb and into the path of a car in Broward County, Fla.
"It's been very, very difficult," said Griffin, who plans on attending the execution. "I've been through a lot."
Thacker also received a death sentence upon his conviction for the Patterson slaying. He pleaded guilty to killing Boyd and was handed a no-parole life sentence.
Thacker committed the crimes only seven months after being released from a Florida prison for writing bad checks.
Donna Breece of Dyersburg is Patterson's daughter.
"I hope to be like him one day," she said in a telephone interview. "He loved his community, loved helping others. He put everybody before himself."
Patterson and his brother, Jerry, were business partners for 32 years.
"Thacker destroyed our family to the degree only we know," Jerry Patterson wrote in a letter to the state Pardon and Parole Board (Thacker waived his clemency hearing).
Anthony Patterson, Ray's son, also wrote to the Parole Board. "To this day, I find it very hard to stop by the station and visit with my family that still work there," he wrote. "In my mind, I can still see what took place and it's not a pretty sight."
Breece said her father worked seven days a week, seldom taking a vacation.
"If he did, he was only gone maybe two days," she said. "He had to get back to the station. He was my Superman with the cape."
The hatred Breece held for Thacker at one time kept her from living a productive life, she said. But no longer.
"It almost sickens me to say that I forgive him, but I have," she said. "I had to so I could have peace."
Handed the death penalty for Hill's slaying, he is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
"It's been 13 years too long as far as I'm concerned," Larry Eugene Griffin, Laci's father, said in a telephone interview. "Justice needs to be done for what he's done to my daughter."
Thacker used credit and debit cards stolen from Hill to purchase Christmas gifts for his family. Her body was found in an abandoned Mayes County cabin on Dec. 29, 1999, six days after he had gone to her Bixby home under the guise of buying a pool table that she had advertised in a newspaper.
"Laci was very happy-go-lucky," said Griffin, of Ponca City. "She loved shopping. She loved her pet cats and she loved her husband, Ronnie. She had everything going for her.
"She was looking forward to starting a family, and this Thacker took it all away from her."
On the lam following the Hill homicide, Thacker fled to Missouri, where he carjacked a family three days after Christmas. During a burglary, he surprised a returning homeowner, stabbing to death restaurant supervisor Forrest Boyd, 24, of Aldrich, Mo., on Jan. 1, 2000.
Stealing Boyd's vehicle, Thacker drove to Tennessee before the car broke down and he hailed a tow. On Jan. 2, 2000, he fatally stabbed service station owner Ray Patterson, 52, in Dyersburg, Tenn., after the credit card Thacker used to pay for the tow came back stolen.
Griffin still attends grief counseling.
His wife, Linda, died in September 2010. Their son, Larry, was killed six months later when he stepped off a curb and into the path of a car in Broward County, Fla.
"It's been very, very difficult," said Griffin, who plans on attending the execution. "I've been through a lot."
Thacker also received a death sentence upon his conviction for the Patterson slaying. He pleaded guilty to killing Boyd and was handed a no-parole life sentence.
Thacker committed the crimes only seven months after being released from a Florida prison for writing bad checks.
Donna Breece of Dyersburg is Patterson's daughter.
"I hope to be like him one day," she said in a telephone interview. "He loved his community, loved helping others. He put everybody before himself."
Patterson and his brother, Jerry, were business partners for 32 years.
"Thacker destroyed our family to the degree only we know," Jerry Patterson wrote in a letter to the state Pardon and Parole Board (Thacker waived his clemency hearing).
Anthony Patterson, Ray's son, also wrote to the Parole Board. "To this day, I find it very hard to stop by the station and visit with my family that still work there," he wrote. "In my mind, I can still see what took place and it's not a pretty sight."
Breece said her father worked seven days a week, seldom taking a vacation.
"If he did, he was only gone maybe two days," she said. "He had to get back to the station. He was my Superman with the cape."
The hatred Breece held for Thacker at one time kept her from living a productive life, she said. But no longer.
"It almost sickens me to say that I forgive him, but I have," she said. "I had to so I could have peace."
Courtesy: Tulsa World
