A Missouri inmate who sexually attacked a 19-year-old woman before tying her to a cemetery tree and killing her was executed yesterday after the U.S. Supreme Court and the governor declined to intervene, reports the associated Press. David Zink, 55, was convicted and recommended for a death sentence in the 2001 killing of Amanda Morton.
Just months before the slaying, Zink had been released from a Texas prison after serving 20 years on rape, abduction and escape charges. Fearing that his drunken fender-bender with Morton could violate his parole and send him back to prison, Zink abducted Morton, taking her to a motel. “If I think that you’re going to pose a threat to my freedom, it is set in my mind I want to eliminate you,” Zink said in his videotaped confession. Zink became the fifth man executed this year in Missouri and the 17th since November 2013. Only Texas has executed more inmates over that span.