Texas Execution Information Center

Execution Report: Robert Ladd

Robert Ladd
Robert Ladd
Executed on 29 January 2015

Robert Charles Ladd, 57, was executed by lethal injection on 29 January 2015 in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery, rape, and murder of a woman in her home.

Vicki Garner was a client of the Andrews Center, a mental and behavioral health care system in Tyler. She also worked at the center as a mail room employee. She was described as mildly retarded. She lived in an apartment complex on Fannin Avenue that had a contract with the Andrews Center to house their patients that were capable of living independently.

In the fall of 1996, the apartment complex where Garner lived was hit by a string of burglaries.

On 24 September 1996, Garner entertained a friend at her apartment. The friend left around 8:15 p.m.

At around 6:45 a.m., the Tyler Fire Department received a telephone call reporting a fire at Garner's apartment. They forced open the doors, which had been locked. Inside, they found much smoke but little fire. They found Garner dead and partially burned. Her body was face down on the floor, naked below the waist. Her hands were tied together with a cord, and there was a belt around her neck. There were ligature marks on her ankles. Her head and body were battered. The fire appeared to have been deliberately set, originating from bedding placed between the victim's legs. The residence appeared to have been ransacked. An autopsy determined that the victim died from manual strangulation. She had also been beaten with a hammer. A sperm sample was recovered from her vagina. Police also recovered a palm print from a kitchen cabinet.

The same day, Edwin Wright pawned a combination television/videocassette recorder and a telephone. The TV brand, model, and serial number matched an owner's manual found in Garner's apartment. Wright told investigators he received the items from John T. Robertson, who lived less than a mile from Garner. Police visited Robertson, who had another of Garner's telephones and her microwave oven. Robertson stated that he traded five "rocks" of crack cocaine to Robert Ladd for the items some time between 9 and 10 p.m. on 24 September.

The palm print found at the scene was matched to Ladd, then 39. Ladd's fingerprint was also found on the microwave oven recovered from Thompson, and he had some of Garner's jewelry in his possession at the time of his arrest. A DNA analysis showed that the similarities between Ladd's DNA and the DNA found in the sperm sample could be found in only 1 out of every 170,000 men.

Ladd had a previous conviction for triple murder. He pleaded guilty to strangling and stabbing Vivian Thompson to death and setting her body on fire. The fire had originated in her genital area, which the prosecution said was consistent with an attempt to destroy evidence of a sexual assault. Thompson's two children, 3-year-old Latoya and 18-month-old Maurice, died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning. Ladd was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was released on parole in 1992. (At the time, Texas prisons were under strict population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.) He was still on parole at the time of Garner's killing. Ladd also had a previous conviction for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He served 9 months in prison in 1975 and 1976 for that offense.

Evidence presented at Ladd's trial showed that he was a former employee and client of the Andrews Center and that he had worked there at the same time as Garner. Prosecutors asserted that he had been targeting people he knew at the apartment complex, committing burglaries to support his drug habit.

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