Ohio: John Fautenberry executed

LUCASVILLE, Ohio -- Multistate serial killer John Fautenberry was executed this morning for the 1991 murder of a 46-year-old father of two who picked him up while hitchhiking near Cincinnati.

Fautenberry, 45, was lethally injected at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville. The time of death was 10:37 a.m. He had no final statement, and did not look to either the victims' families or his spiritual adviser as the deadly drugs began flowing into his system. After a few minutes, he closed his eyes and silently died.

Rachel Daron, 23, the Ohio victim's daughter, came to the prison but did not witness the execution. She told reporters later she came "to get closure, to know it's real, it really happened, and it's over.

"I just saw him in the hearse. That's good enough for me."

Charlene Farmer of Springfield, Tenn., mother of a New Jersey victim, did witness the execution. She said later, "His pain has ended -- mine has not. I think he got off pretty easy considering what I've gone through for 18 years."

She said she hopes today's execution will deter potential killers: "You don't just kill that person. You need to think about you're killing a whole family."

Fautenberry requested an unusual combination for his last meal: two eggs sunny side up, two pieces of fried bologna, two pieces of toast with butter and jelly, four slices of tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise, fried potatoes, four pieces of white bread, two Three Musketeers candy bars and two packs of Reese's Cup candy.

Over a six-month period in late 1990 and early 1991, Fautenberry, a former over-the-road truck driver, killed five people in four states. His ultimate undoing was the murder of Joseph Daron Jr., 46, on Feb. 17, 1991.

While hitchhiking on I-275, Fautenberry was picked up by Daron, who drove 20 miles out of his way to drop him off at a restaurant along I-71. Fautenberry shot Daron twice, dumped his body on the north bank of the Ohio River, and used the dead man's vehicle, cash and credit cards to head to Oregon.

Before arriving in Ohio, records show that Fautenberry killed Donald Nutley in Oregon and Gary Farmer in New Jersey. Later, he murdered Christine Guthrie in Oregon and Jefferson Difee in Alaska.

Fautenberry did not submit a clemency request; the Ohio Parole Board and Gov. Ted Strickland denied clemency. The killer's 11th-hour request for a neuro-psychological examination was rebuffed by two federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

He was the second person executed in Ohio this year -- Daniel Wilson of Lorain was put to death on June 3 -- and the 30th to die since the state resumed capital punishment in 1999.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch, July 14, 2009