Daryl Holton
A Gulf War veteran was executed early today for murdering four children—three of them his own—after telling them they were going Christmas shopping. Daryl Holton was put to death in the electric chair at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. He was pronounced dead at 1:25. He became the first Tennessee inmate to die by electrocution since 1960. The 45-year-old Holton had confessed to shooting his three young sons and their half-sister execution-style in 1997 in Shelbyville. Instead of taking them shopping as promised, he took them to an auto repair garage and shot them. Holton told police he killed the children because his ex-wife would not let him see them. He also said he intended to kill his ex-wife and himself, but instead decided to turn himself in.