Trigger Warning: The article contains details of sexual assault, murder, and death. Reader discretion is advised.
59-year-old Charles Crawford was executed on Wednesday evening for the 1993 kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder case involving 20-year-old Kristy Ray, a community college student from northern Mississippi.
Crawford, who had spent more than three decades on death row, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. following a lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. Witnesses observed him take several deep breaths before he lost consciousness at 6:06 p.m. His breathing then gradually slowed, and after that stopped completely.
According to the Independent, in his final words, Crawford said, “To my family, I love you. I’m at peace. I’ve got God’s peace,” adding, “I’ll be in heaven.” He also addressed the victim’s relatives, saying, “To the victim’s family, true closure and true peace, you cannot reach that without God.”
The execution came amid a surge in capital punishment across the United States. It was the third in two days following executions in Florida and Missouri. According to officials, 38 people have been executed in 2025 so far.
Crawford’s crime dates back to January 29, 1993, when Kristy Ray was abducted from her parents’ home in Tippah County. Her car was missing, and a handwritten ransom note lay on the family’s table.
Investigators found another ransom note on that very day in the attic of Crawford’s former father-in-law. The note was made from magazine cutouts. The second note referred to a woman named Jennifer, prompting authorities to launch a manhunt. Crawford was arrested a day later while returning from a hunting trip.
He told police that he had “blacked out” and did not remember killing Ray. At the time of his arrest, Crawford was only days away from standing trial for a separate 1991 assault in which he was accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl and hitting her friend with a hammer.
He claimed then, too, to have lost memory of the attack. Despite these claims, he was convicted in both cases, and his prior sexual assault charge served as an “aggravating circumstance” in the Ray murder trial, paving the way for his death sentence.
Over the next 31 years, Crawford repeatedly tried to overturn that sentence. His most recent appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court this week, which pleaded to halt the execution. His lawyers argued that his Sixth Amendment rights had been violated because his defense attorneys admitted his guilt at trial and pursued an insanity plea despite the fact that he had objected to this line of defense.
“It’s almost like he didn’t even get the chance to have innocent or guilty matter because his attorney just overrode his wishes from the outset,” said Krissy Nobile, director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Relief and Crawford’s current attorney.
His plea for stopping the execution was rejected by the Supreme Court last minute. Much to the dismay of the people involved, no explanation for the action was provided either.
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. She cited a 2018 ruling that established lawyers cannot override a defendant’s decision of not admitting guilt in court.
Sotomayor wrote that under that precedent, Crawford “could have proven that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated” and “would likely be entitled to a new trial because his lawyers did just that.”
However, she noted that the case was complicated because Crawford’s conviction became final before the 2018 decision. “The Court refuses to resolve that question, even though a man’s life is in the balance,” she wrote.
The Mississippi Supreme Court rejected Crawford’s appeal in September, saying he filed too late and failed to show why the 2018 decision should apply retroactively. After his execution date was confirmed, Nobile said Crawford accepted his fate with calm faith.
“He has a very deep faith in God, and he trusts in God,” she said. “He wants to be the best person he can be with the time he has left.” She described him as a respected and “uplifting presence” on death row who spent his time helping others with mental health and medical issues.
Marc McClure, the chief superintendent of operations for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, told reporters that Crawford spent his final afternoon visiting with family members and a preacher. “He seemed peaceful,” McClure said.
His execution followed those of Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, in Florida, convicted for killing two women in 1996, and Lance Shockley in Missouri, who was sentenced for fatally shooting a state trooper in 2005.
Six additional executions are scheduled before the end of 2025, including that of Richard Djerf in Arizona, convicted of murdering four family members more than 30 years ago.
