Murderpedia

 

 

Juan Ignacio Blanco  

 

  MALE murderers

index by country

index by name   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

  FEMALE murderers

index by country

index by name   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

 

 
   

Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.

   

 

 

Steven Ceon RENFRO

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Drug-induced rampage - Wounded a police officer
Number of victims: 3
Date of murder: August 25, 1996
Date of arrest: Same day
Date of birth: September 14, 1957
Victims profile: Rhena Fulter, 36 (his live-in girlfriend), Rose Rutledge, 63 (his aunt), George Counts, 40 (acquaintance)
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Harrison County, Texas, USA
Status: Executed by lethal injection in Texas on February 9, 1998
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Date of Execution:
February 9, 1998
Offender:
Steven Ceon Renfro #999229
Last Statement:
I would like to tell the victims’ families that I am sorry, very sorry.

I am so sorry. Forgive me if you can.

I know it’s impossible, but try.

Take my hand, Lord Jesus, I’m coming home.



Victims:
Rhena Fulter (36), Rose Rutledge (63), George Counts (40)

Renfro, 40, voluntarily headed to the death chamber on a conviction less than 10 months old. He asked that no appeals be pursued and his execution be carried out as soon as possible.

Rick Berry, a high school classmate and the prosecutor in the case, said the decision not to fight was Renfro's way of trying to get into heaven.

"By voluntarily going ahead and being punished, it's like an atonement," Berry said before Renfro was put to death.

On Aug. 25, 1996, after taking what he told authorities were 70 doses of the tranquilizer Valium, along with liquor, Renfro put on camouflage clothing, blackened his face and armed himself with 4 guns, including a military assault rifle, and 500 rounds of ammunition.

He shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, Rhena Fultner, 36, then killed an aunt who lived with them, Rose Rutledge, 63. He went to the nearby trailer of an acquaintance, George Counts, 40, against whom he had a grudge, and shot him, too, firing more than 150 rounds into the mobile home.

When police responded, he opened fire again, wounding a police officer.

 
 

Steven Renfro (3)

25 august 1996, after taking what he told authorities were 70 doses of Valium and tanking up on booze, Renfro put on camouflage clothing, blackened his face, armed himself with four guns and 500 rounds of ammunition, and went hunting humans.

First he killed his live-in girlfriend, Rhena Fultner, 36, then an aunt, Rose Rutledge, 66, who lived with them. After he went to the nearby trailer of an acquaintance, George Counts, 40 -- against whom he had a grudge -- and fired more than 150 rounds into the mobile home killing him instantly. When police arrived, he wounded Officer Dominic Pondant in the shoulder and turned his patrol car "into Swiss cheese."

Steven was executed by lethal injection in Huntville's death row on February 9, 1998. Renfro voluntarily headed to the death chamber on a conviction less than 10 months old. He asked that no appeals be pursued and his execution be carried out as soon as possible. Rick Berry, a high school classmate and the prosecutor in the case, said the decision not to fight was Renfro's way of trying to get into heaven. "By voluntarily going ahead and being punished, it's like an atonement."

 
 

Steven Renfro fatally shot 3 people in a drug-induced rampage. Renfro, 40, voluntarily headed to the death chamber on a conviction less than 10 months old. He asked that no appeals be pursued and his execution be carried out as soon as possible. Rick Berry, a high school classmate and the prosecutor in the case, said the decision not to fight was Renfro's way of trying to get into heaven. "By voluntarily going ahead and being punished, it's like an atonement," Berry said before Renfro was put to death.

On 8/25/96, after taking what he said were 70 doses of the tranquilizer Valium, and drinking, Renfro put on camouflage clothing, blackened his face and armed himself with four guns, including a military assault rifle, & 500 rounds of ammunition. He shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, Rhena Fultner, 36, then killed an aunt who lived with them, Rose Rutledge, 63. He went to the nearby trailer of an acquaintance, George Counts, 40, against whom he had a grudge, and shot him, too, firing more than 150 rounds into the mobile home. When police responded, he opened fire again, wounding a police officer.

 
 

State prepares for 2nd execution of '98

HUNTSVILLE, Texas—Texas prison officials are preparing to execute a 40-year-old ex-laborer who told police after his 1996 shooting spree that "I killed my whole family.''

Steven Ceon Renfro is scheduled to receive a lethal injection after 6 p.m. today for the August 1996 shooting deaths of his common-law wife, 36-year-old Rhena Fultner; his aunt, 66-year-old Rose Rutledge; and an acquaintance, 40-year-old George Counts.

Renfro dressed in camouflage clothing and armed himself with several assault weapons for the shooting rampage when he saw Fultner having sex with two unidentified men.

After shooting Fultner and Rutledge, Renfro drove to Counts' trailer home and fired a barrage of bullets into the structure when he was refused admittance. Renfro told police: "I killed them all. I killed my whole family.''  Prison spokesman David Nunnelee said none of the fanfare that surrounded last week's execution of Karla Faye Tucker is expected for Renfro's execution. Renfro has refused to meet with reporters and is not pursuing any appeals to stay his execution.

 
 

Steven Renfro executed for 1996 shooting rampage

By Michael Graczyk / Associated Press Writer

Texnews.com

Tuesday, February 10, 1998

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Condemned killer Steven Renfro was executed Monday, less a year after he was condemned for a 1996 East Texas shooting rampage that left three people dead and a police officer wounded.

Renfro, 40, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. CST, seven minutes after a lethal dose of drugs was released into his arms.

In a brief final statement, he turned to three members of his victims' families and asked for forgiveness.

"I'd like to tell the victims' family how terribly sorry I am," Renfro said. "I am so sorry. Forgive me, if you can. I know it's impossible, but try."

He then began praying.

"Take my hand, Lord Jesus, I'm coming home. Glory be to God," he said.

As the drugs took effect, Renfro blinked his eyes and gasped three times before he stopped breathing.

"I think it should have been rougher," said James Carpenter, whose stepbrother, George Counts, was among the people killed by Renfro and who watched the inmate die. "I can't forgive him. He turned to us and apologized. He had a smile and then gasped. All I could think of was: He's lying."

Renfro, who had asked that no appeals be pursued in his case, went to his death with little of the fanfare that marked the execution of Karla Faye Tucker six days earlier.

About two dozen death-penalty opponents showed up, arriving less than 45 minutes before Renfro was to die.

Renfro, who was convicted and condemned less than 10 months ago, had asked that his lethal injection be carried out as soon as possible.

"I think there are some religious overtones, that he believes this is a way to get to heaven," said Rick Berry, a high school classmate and the Harrison County District Attorney who prosecuted Renfro. "By voluntarily going ahead and being punished, it's like an atonement. He's pretty adamant about this."

Last week, an estimated 1,200 singing, praying or cheering spectators and some 200 reporters and photographers from around the world, accompanied by a fleet of television satellite trucks, converged on the grounds of the prison in downtown Huntsville as Ms. Tucker became the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War.

Convicted of a pickax attack in Houston in 1983 that left two people dead, her attractive looks and born-again Christian beliefs made her a fixture on worldwide television as she lobbied for a life sentence while her attorneys waged a frantic but ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to keep her alive.

The scene Monday outside the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was much more tranquil, with little indication an execution even was scheduled.

Dennis Longmire, a routine execution protestor, called the scene surrounding Tucker's lethal injection "a circus, absolutely baffling."

"I was dumbfounded," Longmire said outside the death house Monday. "The celebration on both sides seemed to be inappropriate."

Longmire, who on several occasions has been the only demonstrator at the prison for executions, said the Tucker chaos was more of a media event than an expression for or against the death penalty.

Renfro had avoided the media, rejecting requests for interviews. No legal steps were taken to try to spare him.

On Aug. 25, 1996, after taking what he told authorities were 70 doses of the tranquilizer Valium along with liquor, Renfro put on camouflage clothing, blackened his face and armed himself with four guns, including a military assault rifle, and some 500 rounds of ammunition.

He shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, Rhena Fultner, 36, then an aunt who lived with them, Rose Rutledge, 63. Then he went to the nearby trailer home of Counts, 40, an acquaintance against whom he had a grudge, and fatally shot him, firing more than 150 rounds into Counts' mobile home.

When police responding to reports of gunfire arrived, he opened fire again, wounding Marshall Officer Dominic Pondant in the shoulder and turning his patrol car "into Swiss cheese," as authorities described it. Police exchanging fire were outgunned by Renfro's .45- and .50-caliber handguns and an AR-15 rifle, but one of his weapons malfunctioned and Pondant was able to hit the gunman.

"I killed them all," the wounded Renfro told officers who arrested him.

Renfro was known to authorities in Marshall, with frequent arrests for drunken driving and assault. Berry said even in high school Renfro was known for a quick temper made even worse by alcohol.

"When he's drinking, he'd hit you with a pool cue, shoot you, try to stab you or just beat you to a pulp," Berry said. "If drinking, he's the kind of guy who would fight a grizzly bear."

In April, after a jury convicted him of capital murder, he ended his trial by telling jurors he should be put to death. They agreed.

Last November, after a judge in Marshall set his execution date for Monday, the former high school classmates -- the prosecutor and the killer -- sat down together in Berry's office, munching hamburgers from a fast food restaurant.

"We talked about what it was like to be kids here ... about life, the death penalty," Berry said. "We had kind of a handshake deal, that we're going to see this thing through.

"He needs to be subject to the sentence that the jury put forward for the crime he did. He slaughtered these people. He would have killed several Marshall police officers if given the opportunity, except for a little bit of bad luck on his part with a gun jamming and the good luck of police officers, it would have been a much worse situation.

"But whether three or six people died, one is too many."

 

 

 
 
 
 
home last updates contact