warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
We will review all the criminals scheduled to be executed in 2026,we will analyze their crimes and their dates set for their executions.
Christa Pike , State Tenessee.
In january 1995, Christa pike, 18 years old was a student in Knoxville JobCore program where she was involved in a relationship with 17 year old Tadaryl Shipp.
Both shared a strong obsession with the occult.
Pike developed an intense hatered toward Colleen Slemmer ,19 year old student,believing without evidence that she was trying to take her boyfriend.
Driven by jealousy ,Pike planned with Shipp and her friend Shadolla Peterson to lure Slemmer to an isolated location and attack her.
On the night of January 12th,1995, the three convinced Slemmer to leave the dormitories under the pretext of smoking marijuana and working things out.
They walked to an abandoned steam plant on the agricultural Campus of the University of Tennnessee, once there, Pike and Ship attacked her while Petersson stood watch.
The assault lasted approximately 30 minutes.
During that time, Slemmer was beaten , kicked, and stabbed repeatedly.
Pike slashed her throat several times with a box cutter and inflicted additional wounds with a butcher knife, while Slemmer was still alive they carved a pentagram into her chest.
Finally , Pike picked up a piece of asphalt and hurled it forcefully at the victims head, crushing her skull and causing her death.
Before fleeing, Pike took a fragment of Slemmer’s scull as a trophy.
the following day she bragged about the murder to her classmates…displaying the bone and describing the crime with pride.
The body was discovered on January 13th.
Pike ,Shipp ,and Peterson were arrested within 36 hours, and the skull fragment was found in pike’s pocket.
In 1996 , Pike was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death, becoming the youngest woman sentenced to death in the United states in the modern ERA.
Pike has spent more than half of her life on death row.
In August 2001,while incarcerated,she attempted to strangle another inmate,Patricia Jones with a shoelace and nearly choked her to death.
As a result she was convicted of attempted first -degree murder in 2004.
On september 30th ,2025,the Tennessee Supreme court officially set Christa Pike’s execution date for september 30th,2026.
If carried out , Pike wo will be 50 years old at the time of her death.
Charles Victor Thompson,Texas.
In the early morning hours of April 30th , 1998 in Houston , Texas,Charles Victor Thompson’s life took a definitive turn.
Just hours after being escorted by police following a dispute with the new boyfriend of his ex- partner,Glenda Dennise Hayslip ,Thomspon returned to her apartment armed.
He forced his way inside and opened fire on Darren Keith Cain, killing him instantly with multiple shots to the neck and chest.
He then turned his gun on Hayslip,coldly telling her,” i can shoot you too ,bitch”
And pulled the trigger,allthough she survived the initial impact, her tung was nearly severed and her body was kept alive by machines for a week until her family decided to widraw life support on May 7.
Thomspon did not flee, he sought out his father , confessed the crime to a close friend , and voluntarily turned himself into the police.
In 1999, a jury found him guilty of capital murder, and sentenced him to death, a sentence that was imposed again in 2005 after his first conviction was overturned due to a procedual error .
In late 2005, he carried out an escape that would make him infamous,he smuggled in a handcuff key, used a fake ID, changed in civilian clothes inside the prison,and simply walked out to freedom.
The escape lasted only 3 days ,he was captured in Louisianna ,drunk while trying to secure money to flee to Canada.
After his recapture, Thompson was retruned to death row at the Palensky Unit., where he spent nearly 26 years in isolation , becoming just another number among those awaiting execution.
On September 11th,2025, he received the final news, a new execution warrant.
His execution date was set for January2028 , 2026, marking the first execution in the United States to be carried out that year.
Kendrick Antonio Simpson, Oklahoma.
Kendrick Antonio Simpson evacuated from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was living in Oklahoma city, when in the early hours of January 16th ,2006.
An argument inside Fritzy’s club over his baseball cap escalated into a direct threat against three men Glenn Palmer, Anthony Jones, and London Johnson.
Humiliated after being struck inside the club,Simpson waited outside and when the victims left, ordered their car be followed.
Once on the street , Simpson retrieved and assault rifle he had previously stored in the trunk and from a moving vehicle fired around 20 shots at the Chevy Capris driven by Palmer.
Anthony Jones died instantly, Palmer died seconds later after a brief period of conscious agony,Johnson survived by throwing himself down onto the floor of the car.
After the shooting , Simpson bragged,saying”i’m a monster,they shouldn’t play with me like that”.
He tried to continued the night as if nothing had happened ,but police reconstructed the events thanks to Johnson’s testimony.
Simpson was arrested shortly afterward and was decribed as cold and showing no remorse.
At trial , Kendrick Antonio Simpson was found guilty of two counts of firstdegree murder, attempted murder against London Johnson,the sole survivor, and illegal posssession of a firearm.
The Jury imposed the death penalty for both murders,life imprisonment for the attempted murder, and an additional 10 years for the weapons charge.
Over 19 years of appeals , both state and federal courts upheld the conviction and the United States Supreme court decline to review the case.
Simpson spent nearly two decades on death row without showing genuine remorse according to authorities, his execution is scheduled for february 12th, 2026.
Cedric Allen Ricks , Texas .
On the night of May 1st,2013 ,inside an apartment in Colonial Village , Bedford, Texas, 38 years old Cedric Allen ricks carried out a deadly attack…
…against his partner,Roxanne Sanchez, 30 and her two children from her previous marriage.
An 8 year old boy and a 12 year old boy.
Ricks had a long history of dometic violence against multiple women with prior accusations that included beatings, strangulation, and threats.
Roxanne and the children had just returned from the grocery store when an argument between the couple began, the shouting alerted the children who tried to intervene.
Ricks pushed the odler boy aside and continued to assaulting Sanchez until he went into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and stabbed her repeatedly ,causing fatal injuries.
The two children tried to escape and seek help,but Ricks chased them.
The 12 year old boy was stabbed several times and left critically injured.
The 8 year old boy suffred fatal wounds during the attack.
Realizing he would be the next victim,the older child pretended to be dead, causing Ricks to stop and leave him alive.
After the assault, Ricks took a shower, packed clothes, took Sanche’z car, and fled the scene, leaving his 9 months old baby crying in another room.
When ge felt safe, the surving child called 911 and reported what happened.
Police found Roxanne and the 68 year old boy dead, and the older child alive but suffering from multiple wounds.
His later testimony would be decisive in the criminal case.
In 2004 ,Cedric Allen Ricks was tried in Texas for capital murder for the death of Roxanne Sanchez and the 8 year old boy.
The Jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death on May 16,2014,based primarily on the testimony of the surviving child and the physical evidence from the attack.
For more than 10 years, Ricks filed appeals in States and Federal Courts,but all were denied,including his final attempt before the United States Supreme Court.
His execution is finally scheduled for March 11th ,2026 at the Huntsville Unit in Texas.
James Garfield Broadnax, Texas .
In the early morning hours of June 19th,2008, on the streets of Garland , Texas, 19 year old James Garfield Broadnax, committed a double homicide that would define the rest of his life.
Steven Swan, 26, and Mathew Butler, 28 , were christian music producers,they operated a recording studio called Zionate records, that night they were outside the studio working late on their music when Broadnax and cummings saw them.
Two young men, two easy targets.
Broadnax and cummings approached them,guns in hand,Broadnax opened fire,the shots were fired at close range, Swan was hit in the head and chest.
Butler was also struck , both fell,both died in the street outside their music studio in the early hours of a June morning.
4 days later,on June 23rd, Broadnax and Cummings were arrested in Texarkana ,Officers spotted Swan’s car, they checkedthe license plates, they stopped the vehicle.
Broadnax gave his name, their were outstanding warrants, they were taken into custody.
In January 2009, a Dallas County Jury found James Garfield Broadnax guilty of Capital murder for the death of Steven Swan , also taking into account the death of Matthew Butler.
Both killed during the same robbery.
After the verdict, Broadnax was sentenced to death.
For more than a decade , he filed appeals in State and Federal Courts,but all were denied.
Now, after 15 year on death row, James Broadnax is scheduled to be executed on April 30th,20026.
Edward Lee Busby Jr.Texas .
On January 30th,2004, edward Lee Bubsy Jr, 31 years old, committed one of the most cruel crimes ever recorded in Fort Worth , Texas, along with his accomplice, Kathleen Latimer.
He kidnapped Laura Lee Crane , a 77 year old retired teacher, from the parking lot of a Tom Thumb grocery store in Southwest Fort Worth.
Crane had dedicated her life to education.
For more than two decades she served as principal of Starpoint School at Texas Christian University.
An institution focused on children with learning disabilities.
That friday afternoon, she went out to do a routine grocery run, unaware it would be her last.
Busby and Latimer approached her in the parking lot,covered her head with duct tape, and locked her inside the trunk of her own Nissan Sentra.
The motive was robbery.
Using her credit cards and a blank check, Busby stole more than $775.
They then drove north, crossing into Oklahoma,while the victim remainded trapped.
According to Busby’s confession ,he wrapped Crane’s face with large amounts of duct tape covering her nose and mouth.
The official cause of death was asphyxiation ,her body was abandonned near interstate 35 in Oklahoma , wrapped in a sheet with the tape still on her face.
Edward Lee Busby Jr was arrested and brought to trial in 2005.
He was sentenced to death , after years of appeals his execution is sheduled for may 14th ,2026.
He entered death row at the age of 33 and will die there at 54.
Tony Carruthers, Tennessee. age 57
On the night of February 24th ,1994, Tony Von Carruthers 28 years old, carried out a plan that he had devised while in prison.
Along with James Montgomery,he kidnapped three people in Memphis,Tennessee , with the goal of obtaining money through violence.
The victims were Marello Anderson,21 , his friend Fredrick Tucker,17, and Deoya Anderson,43, Marcello’s mother , an innocent women who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
After the kidnapping, all three were taken to a cemetery and buried alive beneath a recently filled grave.
Days later , police discovered the bodies stacked beneath a coffin.
Autopsies confirmed that none of the prior injuries were fatal.
All three victims died from asphyxiation , unable to escape as they were buried under dirt and weight.
Carruthers and Montgomery were convicted in 1996 of tripple murder, kidnapping and robbery.
The Jury recommended the death penalty, after decades of appeals, the execution of Tony Von Carruthers was scheduled for May 21 st , 2026, following more than 30 years on death row.
Gerald Robert Hand, Ohio .
The case of Gerald Hand is one of the most disturbing in Ohio’s criminal history.
Over a period of 26 years,he systematically murdered three of his four wifes with the same objective -collective their life insurance policies.
In 1976, his first wife , Donna hand was found strangled in the basement of their home in Columbus.
Allthough there was a history of domestic violence and plans for divorce, the case went on unpunished and hand collected the insurance payout.
Three years later , in 1979, his second wife, Lori Hand was found dead under similar circumstances.
Beatings, non- fatal gunshot wounds, and death by strangulation.
Like Donna , Lorie had expressed her intention to divorce.
Once again , hand collected the insurance money and avoided prosecution.
After a failed third marriage, hand married Jill hand in 1992.
By 2002, the marriage was deteriorating.
Hand was deeply in debt, and Jill was planning to divorce him.
This time, Hand hired a trusted friend, Walter Lonnie Welch, as a hitman.
On the night of January 15th,2002,Welch murdered Jill and was later killed by Hand himself in an attempt to stage the crime as self- defense during an alleged robbery.
Forensic evidence dismantled his story.
Hand was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to death.
Today at 76 years old ,he remains imprisoned in Ohio.
His execution is scheduled for June 17 th,2026.
Allthough is uncertainty over whether Ohio will carry out executions in the near future due to Govenor DeWine’s stance on lethal injection.
Cleveland R. Jackson.Ohio
On the afternoon of January 3rd,2002, 23 year old Cleveland Jackson and his half- brother,29 year old Geranique Cunningham, planned to commit a robbery.
Hours earlier , Cunningham had purchased crack cocain at the apartment of Lashane Shane Lyles on East Eureka Street.
Later that day, the two returned armed.
Witnesses would later recall Jackson cleaning a magazine full of bullets and openly talking about hitting a lick- the target was clear.Shane Lyles.
Jackso and Cunningham arrived at Shane’s apartment.
Inside were several people. including teenages and a three year old girl.
When Shane returned , Jackson pretended he wanted to buy drugs while Cuningham stayed in the livingroom.
Suddenly, Cunningham pulled out a gun, brutally beat one of the young men, and forced everyone to gather in the kitchen.
They cried,prayed , and begged.
James grant pleaded with them not to hurt his daughter, Jayla.
Jackson tied Shane up,robbed him, and brought him into the kitchen.
When Shane said he had no more money, Jackson shot him in the back.
That was the beginning of the massacre.
Jackson and Cunningham opened fire at point blank range on te group.
They fired again and again,even as their guns began to run out of ammunation.
Before fleeing , one of tem said they needed to make sure no one was moving.
Three year old Jayla Grant and 17 year old Lenia Williams were killed by gunshots to the head.
Six other people was seriously injured , some suffering permanent damage.
In total , eight people were shot in a matter of seconds.
The scene was described as chaotic and devastating.
Jackson maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
He was tried and convicted.
Today, at 46 year old , he remains on Ohio’s death row.
If his execution is carried out, it would be for the mass shooting that occurred on the night of January 3rd,2002,July 15th,2026.
Danny L. Hill.Ohio.
The crime committed by Hill on September 10th, 1985 is one of the most brutal in the history of Warren , Ohio.
The kidnapping,torture , and murder Raymond Fife a 12 year old boy scout.
Raymond left his home on his bicycle around 5:15 p.m to visit a friend before a boyscout meeting.
As he often did ,he took a shortcut through a wooded field
He never reached his destination.
By 5:50 pm, when his family realized he was missing,they began searching for him.
Several high school students saw Raymond that afternoon in the Value king parking lot.
They also observed Danny Lee Hill , 18 , and Timothy A. Combs , 17, loitering the area.
One witness heard a child scream coming from the trail .
Another stated that he saw Hill and Combs emerge from the wooded area shortly afterward.
Around 9:30 p.m., Raymond’s father found his son in the field.
He was naked , severely beaten , and hand burns on his face.
Allthough he was still breathing,his injuries were fatal .
Raymond died 2 days later on September 12th,1985 without ever regaining consciousness.
On the same day Raymond died , Danny Lee Hill voluntarily went to the police to ask about a revard being offered for information in the case.
During the interview, he demonstrated knowledge of details that not had made public,immediately raising suspicion.
Hill was arrested ,tried and sentenced to death.
Since then , he has filed more than 25 appeals , making his case one of the longest and most controversial in Ohio’s Capital punishment system.
Today, at 58 years old ,Danny Lee Hill remains on death row and his execution is scheduled for July 22nd, 2026.
Anthony Darrell Dugard Hines.Tenenessee.
In March 1985, Anthony Daryl Hines, 26 years old, checked into Seabond Motel located next to interstate 40, in Kingston Springs , Tenessee, while concealing a hunting knife.
That same day , Kathrine Jean Jenkins, 54 , a motel housekeeper, was carrying out her usual duties while in possession of a bag containing the motel’s money.
Between 1 and 1 :30 p.m. on March 3rd,1985, Jenkins’s body was wrapped in a blood soaked sheet inside room 21.
She had been murdered while cleaning the room.
The scene revealed signs of extreme violence and the autopsy confirmed multiple deep stab wounds to the chest along with superficial wounds and injuries to the genital area.
The cause of death was determined to be multiple stab wounds.
After the crime, Hines fled using the victims car, taking the money and the keys with him.
Witnesses saw him leaving the motel wearing bloodstained clothing.
The vehicle later broke down and was abandoned.
Shortly afterward,Hines was seen with cash and in possession of Jenkins’s car keys.
While in Kentucky, he confessed to family members that he had stabbed someone at the motel,although he later gave contradictory accounts to authorities.
Hines was arrested , extradited to Tennessee, and charged with first degree murder,rape and aggravated robbery.
He was tried in 1986, and sentenced to death.
After nearly four decades on death row on September 30th,2025, the Tennessee Supreme Court set his execution date for August 13th,2026.
Anthony Hines is currently 66 years old and has spent nearly 40 years awaiting his final sentence.
James D. O’ Neal. state Ohio .
James Derek O ‘ neal and Carol O ‘ Neal were married on November 14th , 1992 and moved into a house on Plainville Road in Cincinnati along with several children from both of their previous relationships.
However , the marriage quickly deteriorated.
Friends and co -workers noticed that Carol was exhausted, stressed ,and determined to end the relationship.
On December 7th, 1993, the situation escalated into a domestic violence incident.
Carol called 911 and police observed visible bruises on her face and neck .
That same day , she filed a formal complaint and requested a protection order.
She changed the locks on the house and warned her children not to let O’ Neal inside or answer phone calls without consulting her.
After the incident, O’Neal left the home and began living on the streets.
4 days later on December 11th, 1993,O’ Neal repeatedly called Carol at her workplace.
During one of the calls, he threatened to kill her.
Carol, visibly terrified,immediately reported the threat to the police.
That same night , around 9:30 p.m . O’ Neal arrived at the house, smashed the glass in the front door, and forced his way inside.
He chased Carol into the bedroom , fired through the door, and then shot her several more times as she lay on the floor, begging and crying in front of her children.
Carol O ‘ Neal died at the scene.
In 1995, a Jury recommended the death penalty, and the court formally imposed it.
The conviction were upheld on appeal .
James Derek O ‘ Neal, born in 1954, has spent more than 30 years on Ohio’s death row.
And barring legal changes ,his execution is scheduled for August 19th,2026.
Jerome Henderson. state Ohio.
In the early morning hours of March 3rd,1985,26 year old Mary Akoff was alone in her basement apartment in a building on Highland Avenue in Mount Auburn, Cincinnati.
The night before, she had been with her boyfriend and returned home around midnight.
At approximately 4:50 a.m.a neighbor heard strange noises coming from Mary’s apartment.
And shortly afterwards,another witness saw Jerome Henderson in the area behaving suspiciously and covering his face.
Mary’s body was discovered around 4:15 p.m by her 10 year old daughter and a neighbor.
The scene indicated an extremely violent sex.
Mary was naked with multiple stab wounds and clear signs of defensive injuries.
The autopsy revealed that she died from massive hemorrhaging caused by numerous stab wounds, deep cuts, and blunt trauma,including at least 13 cuts to the neck.
Initially , police questioned Jerome Henderson , who denied being near the apartment or knowing the victim.
However , the investigation took a decisive turn when a fingerprint found on the kitchen wall of Mary’s apartment was matched to Henderson,based on this evidence, he was arrested, though he continued to deny any involvement in the crime.
A search of Henderson’s residence uncovered further incriminating evidence, including clothing matching the witness description,shoes with traces of blood , and a knife hidden inside a jacket.
At his 1985 trial , the Jury heard the forensic and testimonial evidence against him and found him guilty of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and attempted rape.
Following the Jury’s recommendation, Jerome Henderson was sentenced to death.
Despite ongoing legal challenges, his execution remains scheduled for October 21st,2026.
If carried out , Jerome Henderson , now 67 years old,will be executed after having spent more than four decades on death row.
Melvin D. Bonnell Jr.
In the early morning hours of November 28th,1987, 30 year old Melvin D. Bonell Jr forced his way into an apartment on Bridge Avenue in Cleveland , Ohio, where Shirley Hatch, Edward Birmingham, and Robert Eugene Bunner were living .
After falsely identifying himself at the door, Bonnell entered the apartment and without any argument , fired two point blank shots at Bunner, leaving him critically wounded.
Hatch fled to seek help while Birmingham woke up and went to the kitchen where he found Bonell beating Bunner despite the gunshot wounds.
Birmingham managed to force the attacker out of the apartment.
Bunner died shortly afterwards from a gunshot wound to the chest,the autopsy confirmed that he had been shot twice, once in the torso and once in the pubic area.
In March 1988,Bonell was found guilty of aggravted burglary and two counts of aggravated murder ,both carrying death penalty specifications.
After exhausting all appeals , his execution is scheduled for November 18th, 2026.
Now 67 years old, Bnnel has spent more than 37 years on O’hio ‘s death row.
Garry Wayne Sutton.Tennessee.
On February 21st ,1992, 24 year old Tommy Griffin spent the afternoon drinking beer and playing pool at Howie’s Hideway Lounge in Maryville , Tennessee , along with his uncle James Dellinger and Gary wayne sutton.
There were no signs of conflict inside the bar , but shortly after the three men left together in a dark Camaro , witnesses reported a violent fight along the roadside where two men appeared to be trying to pull a third from the back seat.
Minutes later ,the altercation was reported to 911.
That same night ,even more serious events unfolded.
An intentionally set fire destroyed Grffin’s trailer , later confirmed by investigators to have been s tarted using an accelerant.
Hours later Dellinger and Sutton posted bail to secure Griffin’s release from the Blount county Jail ..
Shortly afterward, gunshots were heard in a wooded area known as Blue Hole
-near the little river..
February 24th , Tommy Griffin’s body was found at Blue Hole,he had been executed with a shotgun blast to the base of the skull.
At the scene , investigators found 12 gauge shell casings and beer cans, and ballistic evidence linked them to weapons recovered from Dellinger’s trailer.
Days later , on Febriary 28th, the burned body of Connie Branam’s ,
Griffin’s sister ,was discovered inside her torched vehicle in the same area.
A riffle casing found at the scene was matched to another weapon belonging to Dellinger.
A Jury conviced Dellinger and Sutton of the premeditated murder of Tommy Griffin .
During the sentencing phase, the prior conviction for the murder of Connie Branam were presemted leading to the imposition of the death penalty for both men.
Sutton received a death sentence for Griffin’s murder and life imprisonment for the murder of Connie Branam .
Dellinger was also sentenced to death, but died of natural causes on death row in 2023.
Gary Wayne Sutton has spent more than 29 years on Tennessee’s death row.
In the past , he had an execution date scheduled ,but it was cancelled when govenor Bill Lee suspended all executions in 2022 due to flaws in the lethal injection protocol.
When the state announced a new round of execution dates in early 2025 after resuming the process, Sutton was the only one of the five inmates under consideration who did not receive a new execution date at that time.