Man Who Lured Girl Out of Walmart, Killed Her Is Executed

A Texas man convicted of strangling a 5-year-old girl whom he'd lured out of a Walmart store where she was Christmas shopping with her family nearly 22 years ago and burning her body was executed Thursday evening, the AP reports. David Renteria, 53, was pronounced dead at 7:11pm CST following an injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the killing of Alexandra Flores. Renteria prayed, sang and asked for forgiveness before his execution. "I'm sorry for all the wrongs I have done. And for those who have called for my death, who are about to murder me, I forgive you," he told those present in a loud, clear voice. He was pronounced dead 11 minutes later after receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital, a powerful sedative.

Renteria sang a hymn in Spanish, then prayed with a spiritual adviser standing next to him, and sang another hymn in English after witnesses, including relatives of his victim, entered the death chamber and watched through a window a few feet from him. "There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about the fateful events of that day and what transpired," he said, looking at his victim's relatives. "There are no words to describe what you're going through, and I understand that." He told his sister and a friend, watching through another window, that he was "good ... strong." "I love you all, I truly do. I'll see you in the next life."

He then began reciting The Lord's Prayer as the drugs began flowing. "Our father, who art in heaven" is as far as he got. "I taste it," he said of the drug, mumbled something, took two loud breaths and snored twice before all movement stopped. Ignacio and Sandra Frausto held a photo collage of their slain sister, the baby among eight children in their family, while speaking with reporters after they had watched Renteria die. "I want to recognize her, not forget about her," Ignacio Frausto said through sobs. "It took 22 years but the time came. It is done. We can finally and really begin to heal—22 years of wondering what was going to happen."

(More Texas stories.)