Alfredo R. Prieto, a Salvadoran-born convicted murderer, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday night, Oct. 1., at Virginia's Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, at 9:17 p.m., according to The New York Times. This is following Prieto's many appeals to postpone his death that were rejected. He was charged for the shooting and killing of Rachel A. Raver and her boyfriend Warren H. Fulton III in Virginia, according to The Washington Post.
Prieto was charged for those murders while on death row for the rape and killing of a 15-year-old girl in California. Officials from the golden state agreed to send Prieto to Virginia because they believed Virginia would be more likely to implement the death penalty. He was additionally connected to six other murders in California and Virginia, but was not formally charged due to being on death row.
Raver watched with others as Prieto was killed. "Today ends a long and painful ordeal for my family, that has haunted us for over 26 years. I speak on behalf of my sister, Rachael Angelica, who will have the last word after all. . . . Although we have moved on with our lives, there will always be that gap in our hearts knowing we could not be there to rescue our beloved sister or brother. . . . Today is about the victims having the last word and recognizing that we would never forget them or what happened," Deidre Raver, Rachel Raver's sister, said. Fulton's parents were unable to attend.
"I was using a lot of drugs. I was drinking," Prieto told the judge to describe his actions. After shooting Raver, he proceeded to engage in necrophilia with her corpse. Prieto also claimed that he was intellectually disabled, according to The Daily News. This was the subject of Prieto's appeal to the Supreme Court, which was also denied.
Prieto's legal representation claimed the drugs used for the execution were possibly unsafe, due to the lack of information from the state regarding their quality. They stated they feared the application of these drugs would cause a cruel and painful death. Prieto's immediate death was deemed necessary by District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson who said delaying it would cause harm to those who fell victim to Prieto's crimes which were "magnified here by the appalling number of people that Prieto has killed, raped, or otherwise injured." Before Prieto was finally killed, he thanked his lawyers, family members and supporters. He then mumbled, "Get this over with."
