Execution Report: Edward Busby

On Friday, 30 January 2004, Busby, then 31, and Kathleen "Kitty" Latimer, 39, abducted Laura Crane, 78, from a grocery store parking lot in Fort Worth. Busby wrapped 23 feet of duct tape tightly around the victim's head, covering her nose and mouth, placed her in the trunk of her car, and stole the car. The victim died of asphyxiation. A statement made at Busby's trial implies that she died while Busby and Latimer were inside a hotel room.

Busby drove the victim's car to Oklahoma and disposed of her body.

On 1 February, Officer Padgett of the Oklahoma City Police Department arrested Busby after stopping him for committing several traffic violations while driving the victim's car.

Busby gave statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma police, and Fort Worth detectives about the victim and her car. Initially, he claimed that he and Latimer obtained the car from someone named "JD" with the victim in the trunk and that they merely disposed of the body in Oklahoma. On 3 February, Busby led the police to the victim's body. At that location, he made a verbal, tape-recorded statement in which he abandoned the JD story and admitted that he and Latimer abducted, robbed, and killed the victim.

Busby was returned to Fort Worth on 19 February. The following day, he repeated the elements of his verbal confession in writing. In both his verbal and written confessions, Busby stated several times that he did not mean to kill the victim. He repeated this statement in a press conference he gave that day.

At Busby's trial, the defense argued that Busby was acting at Latimer's direction and that he did not intend to kill the victim.

Busby's criminal record shows seven arrests between 1997 and his arrest for Laura Crane's murder. He had a felony conviction for drug possession, for which he served 14 months in state jail from 1998 to 1999. He also had felony convictions for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, for which he served 2 years from 2000 to 2002. He had misdemeanor convictions for evading arrest, burglary of a vehicle, and driving with a suspended license.

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