The state of Indiana executed a man convicted of killing his former girlfriend’s two young children in a house fire he ignited more than 16 years ago.
Jeffrey Weisheit’s execution by lethal injection was carried out at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City the morning of Thursday, November 5, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.
The Indiana Supreme Court ordered his death for the murders of 5-year-old Caleb Lynch and his 8-year-old sister, Alyssa Lynch, in April 2010, the department said in a Thursday news release.
After the legal injection process began after midnight, Weisheit, 50, was declared dead around 12:45 a.m. local time, according to prison officials.
“He had no final words,” the department of correction said. “His final meal was barbecue ribs from Texas Corral and Mountain Dew.”
In April 2010, Weisheit set fire to his Evansville home with Caleb and Alyssa inside, killing the siblings, according to state supreme court filings. He lived with the children and their mother, his then-girlfriend, Lisa Lynch, who was pregnant at the time and had been away at work.
Lynch remained supportive of Weisheit’s death sentence while the children’s father, Steven Lynch, argued against capital punishment for Weisheit during clemency proceedings in October, per the Indiana Capital Chronicle, the sole news outlet permitted to attend the execution. Steven instead supported Weisheit remaining in prison for the rest of his life.
Following the house fire that killed their children, investigators discovered Alyssa’s body in a closet and Caleb’s body hog-tied to a mattress, with two railroad flares on and under his body, according to state supreme court documents.
A few months earlier, Weisheit allegedly told his coworker that he’d kill Lisa, himself and “burn everything” if he discovered she was having an affair, court documents state.
Gov. Mike Braun denied Weisheit’s clemency on Monday, November 2, per the Indiana Capital Chronicle. Then, the Indiana Supreme Court turned down a motion for a stay on Wednesday, November 4.
The state supreme court allowed his lethal injection to be carried out in a 3-2 vote on Wednesday, according to NBC News. The two dissenting justices had been in favor of a temporary 10-day stay to allow for a discussion on the drugs used for the lethal injection.
Weisheit spent 13 years on death row after he was convicted in Alyssa and Caleb’s murders, per the outlet.
Weisheit’s death comes more than a month after the state of Tennessee failed to execute Christa Pike, a convicted murderer and the sole woman on the state’s death row. Pike survived two injections of pentobarbital on September 30 and was taken to a hospital. She’s now being held in a prison infirmary.
Weisheit was one of three death row inmates whose executions were scheduled for Thursday, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Michael Taylor and Jesse Guardado are set to be executed in Alabama and Florida, respectively.
