Ohio executes ex-trucker for murder of driver in 1991

7/15/2009

LUCASVILLE, Ohio - A former Oregon truck driver who went on a multistate killing spree was executed yesterday for murdering an Ohio man who gave him a ride in February, 1991.

John Fautenberry, 45, was pronounced dead at 10:37 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, about two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to delay his execution on grounds of brain damage.

He was sentenced for killing Joseph Daron Jr., 46, who picked up the hitchhiking Fautenberry east of Cincinnati.

Fautenberry had confessed to killing four people in three other states - Alaska, Oregon, and New Jersey - during a five-month period in late 1990 and early 1991.