Execution Report: Charles Thompson

Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was executed by lethal injection on 28 January 2026 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a man and woman in their home.

On Thursday, 30 April 1998, at about 3:00 a.m., Houston police responded to a disturbance call at the apartment of Dennise Hayslip, 39. They found her and her boyfriend, Darren Cain, involved in an argument with Thompson, then 27, who was Hayslip's ex-boyfriend. No one wanted to press charges, so the officers told Thompson to leave the complex and to stay away. He returned three hours later with a gun, kicked the door in, and shot Cain four times in the neck and chest, killing him. He then reloaded the gun, turned to Hayslip, said, "I can shoot you too, bitch," and fired once. The bullet struck Hayslip in her cheek and passed through her face, partially severing her tongue. Thompson then left the apartment, threw the gun into a creek, and went to the house of a friend, Diane Zernia, where he fell asleep.

Bleeding profusely, Hayslip sought help from neighbors. She was taken to the hospital by helicopter. She fell into a coma while doctors were preparing for surgery. About a week later, her family took her off of life support, and she died.

After Thompson awoke, he confessed to Zernia. He then phoned his father, who took him to the police station, where he surrendered.

Thompson later called Zernia from jail and tried to persuade her to lie about what he had told her. He stressed to her that she was the only witness who could link him to the murders. She refused. Thompson then attempted to arrange for fellow inmate Max Humphrey, who was scheduled to be released on 30 June, to kill Zernia. He drew a map of the murder weapon's location for fellow inmate Jack Reid and asked Reid to pass the weapon's location along to a contact on the outside so that the weapon could be retrieved. Reid instead went to the police.

The police were unable to locate the murder weapon from the information Reid had given them, so investigator Gary Johnson visited Thompson at the jail, posing as Reid's outside contact. Johnson wore a wire to record the conversation. Thompson told Johnson that he believed Humphrey had betrayed him. and offered Johnson $1,500 to retrieve the weapon and murder Zernia. During the meeting, he pressed a map against the glass of the visitor's booth that was similar to the one Reid had given them. He gave Johnson Zernia's home address and described her husband, daughter, home, and vehicles to him and discussed the best times to carry out the murder.

The police recovered the murder weapon from Cypress Creek on 18 July.

The Harris County district attorney charged Thompson with solicitation of capital murder. Undeterred, on 21 August, Thompson solicited the help of another inmate, Robin Rhodes. Thompson gave Rhodes a list of people, including Zernia, who needed to be either killed or made unable or unwilling to testify against him.

Thompson's criminal history began at age 14, when he committed a string of crimes that resulted in over $60,000 of damage to homes and property. While on probation from a juvenile corrections facility, he stole his father's motorcycle, ran away, and went on another crime spree. He was arrested in 1987 and sent to another juvenile facility.

As an adult, Thompson married, but later abandoned his wife and two children. He was arrested in 1996 for transporting illegal immigrants from Mexico.

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