A truck driver was executed by injection for raping and strangling a cocktail waitress who had hitched a ride.
Benjamin Herbert Boyle, 53, sentenced to die for the 1985 slaying of Gail Lenore Smith, was the third condemned killer to be executed in Texas in eight days and the fifth this month.Joyce Smith, the victim's mother, said the execution brought her some closure.
"It's not the end because you never stop grieving for a child, but it does have a final ring to it," Smith said. "I want to know he won't harm another woman's daughter.