Execution Report: Franklin Alix

Franklin DeWayne Alix, 34, was executed by lethal injection on 30 March 2010 in Huntsville, Texas for killing a man whose sister he had abducted and was robbing.

On January 3, 1998, Alix, then 22, abducted Karyl Bridgeford, 19, as she was exiting from her car at her family's southwest Houston townhouse. Alix forced Bridgeford into her trunk, closed it, and drove away with her. He demanded money from her and threatened to kill her. Bridgeford told him that her credit cards were maxed out and she could not remember her PIN codes, but he could take items from her home and pawn them for cash.

Alix then returned Bridgeford to her home. With his gun pointing in her face, he said, "Do you see this? Anything goes wrong in here, and I'll kill you and anyone else in the house." Alix then walked through the home and took several pieces of electronic equipment. He also raped Bridgeford.

While Alix was in the home, Bridgeford's brother, Eric, returned home with a friend. The two young men ran, but Alix shot Eric in the back, killing him. Alix then fled the area on foot.

Houston police arrested Alix on 6 January. He confessed to Eric's murder and led officers to the murder weapon. A firearms expert confirmed that the bullet recovered from Eric's body was fired from Alix's gun.

At his trial, Alix admitted to abducting Karyl and forcing her into the trunk of her car, but he claimed that his sexual intercourse with her was consensual, the items taken from her home were gifts, and that the killing was in self defense.

Alix had a prior felony conviction for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, for which he spent three years in prison from 1993 to 1996. Soon after he was released, he was back in jail on a misdemeanor conviction for carrying a gun illegally.

In 1997, Alix embarked on a violent crime spree. Most of his crimes occurred or began in apartment complexes, and several of them involved men or women being locked inside the trunks of their cars. He perpetrated at least 14 violent crimes - including 4 murders - from August 1997 until his arrest in January 1998. He killed Gregorio Ramirez on 8 August, Selemawi Tewolde on 5 October, Eric Bridgeford on 3 January, and Christopher Thomas on 4 January.

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