Elroy Chester

Between 1997 and 1998, a series of burglaries and fatal shootings occurred in Port Arthur, Texas. In every case but one, the victims died in their homes during the night. The five people which Chester admitted to killing[1] were:

• John Henry Sepeda (78) on Sept. 20. 1997
• Etta Mae Stallings (87) on Nov. 15. 1997
• Cheryl DeLeon (40) on Nov. 20. 1997, she was fatally beaten as she arrived home from work
• Albert Bolden Jr. (35) on Dec. 21. 1997, who was his common-law brother-in-law
• Willie Ryman III (38), on Feb. 6. 1998, a firefighter who tried to defend his nieces from Chester, after he sexually molested them[2]

Later his DNA was linked to three rapes, including that of a ten-year-old girl. He also confessed to four non-fatal shootings.[3] After his arrest, he said that he had committed these offenses because he was out of his mind "with hate for white people" due to lingering resentment over an altercation that he had once gotten into with a white employee of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.[4]

During his trial, Chester made multiple outbursts, threatened the lives of police officers, prison guards, and the families of jurors, and at one point declared, "If I hadn't shot my brother-in-law, I'd still be out there shooting white folks."[5]

He was convicted of the murder of Willie Ryman III and the assault of the two nieces. It took the jury only 11 and a half minutes to agree on a death sentence for Chester after he told them he would kill a guard if he was not sentenced to death.[3]

The Texas court system ruled that Chester was legally competent to be executed,[6] despite scoring below 70 on IQ tests[7] and being previously placed in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Mentally Retarded Offenders Program.[8] In the prosecution's closing arguments, it was argued that his disability was not a sufficient reason to stay his execution.[8]

Since Chester was capable of hiding facts and lying to protect his own interests, using masks and gloves, and cutting exterior telephone lines before entering homes to burglarize, he showed persuasively that he was capable of forethought, planning, and complex execution of purpose. Therefore, the court found the evidence insufficient to support the claim that Chester was mentally retarded.[2]

In October 2012, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Chester.[9]

Chester was originally scheduled for execution on April 24, 2013, but, due to an error in the execution warrant, the date was pushed back.[6]

He was executed on June 12, 2013, at the Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas, two days before his 44th birthday.[10]

He is buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery.

In 2013 a full-length documentary titled Killing Time was made about him and his execution.[11]

In 2018 the case was covered by Investigation Discovery show Murder by Numbers, episode named Clown Mask Murders.[12]

• List of people executed in Texas, 2010–2019
• List of people executed in the United States in 2013
• List of serial killers in the United States

• Death Row Information: Elroy Chester, Texas Department of Criminal Justice