Execution Report: Alvin Goodwin

Alvin Urial Goodwin III, 37, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday, 18 January 2001, in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a homeowner following a burglary.

In November 1986, Alvin Goodwin, then 22, and Billy Dan Aitkens Jr., 21, forced their way into the mobile home of an acquaintance, James Douglas Tillerson, 20. With guns drawn, they demanded that he give them his $600 Christmas bonus. They didn't know that Tillerson had already deposited the money in the bank. When he told them he didn't have the money, they took his VCR, some video tapes, and a small amount of cash. They then took Tillerson into their car, drove to a wooded area, and marched him into the woods. Aitkens attempted to shoot Tillerson, but had problems with his gun. Goodwin then shot Tillerson in the arm and head with a .357 caliber pistol.

Two days later, police pulled Aitkens, Goodwin, and two other men over for a traffic violation. They seized the gun which later proved to be the murder weapon. Tillerson's decomposing body was found by trail riders seven weeks later, on 17 January 1987. Goodwin and Aitkens were tracked down four days later in Iowa, where they had been arrested on unrelated burglary charges.

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