James Osgood, who was convicted of a murder he committed in 2010, says he is ready to be executed. The Alabama man who killed his girlfriend’s cousin says he is ready to die for the crimes he committed. Osgood has dropped all of his appeals and is awaiting the death penalty.
Court records later revealed how Osgood had an extremely disturbing childhood. He faced abuse as a child and never got the chance to meet his birth mother. His biological mother, who was a s—x worker and was addicted to narcotics, was murdered when he was an infant.
Osgood grew up to be a malnourished child and was sexually abused as a child. He went on to father a child when he was just a teenager. Osgood was 14 when he impregnated a 24-year-old woman. A court document revealed that he spent time at a psychiatric hospital after being admitted as a teenager.
While growing up, Osgood was also diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder. He spent most of his childhood getting transferred from one foster home to another.
Osgood and his girlfriend, Tonya Vandyke, were convicted of murdering Tracy Lynn Wilemon. Tonya and Tracy were not only familiar with each other, but related by blood. The two women were cousins and grew up together in Southern California.
James Osgood and Tonya Vandyke brutally r—ped and killed Wilemon in 2010. The couple forced their victim to perform sexual acts on them after they attacked Wilemon in her own bedroom. Osgood confessed to slashing Tracy’s throat multiple times before he eventually killed her by stabbing her in the back.
James Osgood, 55, scheduled for execution in Alabama, asserts he’s guilty: “I took a life, so mine was forfeited.” After abandoning appeals, he expresses sorrow for Tracy Lynn Brown’s family and urges against protests on his behalf, believing in “an eye for an eye.” pic.twitter.com/rwqnMCYu4Y
— Nyra Kraal (@NyraKraal) April 23, 2025
“I remember seeing the fear in her eyes and seeing her shaking,” Osgood shared while being interrogated by the investigators. In the same testimony, he went on to claim that what he did to Tracy wasn’t “an act of violence” and that there was “no anger involved.”
“I was scared. She wasn’t dying, so I kept cutting her throat and neck,” he added. Osgood went on to reveal that he had apologised to Wilemon in her last moments. “It was nothing against her. She just needed to quit fighting and go,” he claimed.
Osgood, who was sentenced to death, has now dropped all his appeals and fired his lawyer, claiming that he is ready to die. “I’ve always been a firm believer in an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life,” he claimed. He noted how since he “screwed up” he deserves what he was “given” referring to the execution.
James Osgood, along with his girlfriend brutally #raped and #murdered girlfriend’s cousin.
He’ll be executed in Alabama Thursday.
We must keep up the #executions & toss the trash!#Osgood said“I’ve always been a firm believer in an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a…
— PatriotPups (@Patriot_Pups) April 22, 2025
Wilemon’s stepsister and stepmother will be travelling to Alabama to see Osgood get executed. In an interview with USA Today, both women shared how they had forgiven Tracy’s murderer and hoped that he had found god.
“He’s deserving of this,” Trish Jackson, Wilemon’s stepsister, said. She shared how she struggled with deciding if Osgood deserved the death penalty, but concluded that it was “God’s will.” She added, “Proper due process was held, and this is all God’s doing.”
