Indiana and Oklahoma are preparing to execute two death row inmates potentially within hours of each other, marking the year's final executions in the United States as one inmate faces his fate on his own birthday.
Quadruple murderer Joseph Corcoran, 49, is scheduled to die by lethal injection before sunrise Dec. 18 at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, according to the Indiana Supreme Court.
The death of convicted child killer Kevin Underwood is expected to follow shortly after at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma.
Here are the ruthless crimes that landed the two men on condemned row.
Joseph Corcoran
In 1999, Corcoran was found guilty of four counts of murder for the 1997 killings of his brother, James Corcoran; his sister's fiancé, Robert Scott Turner; and their two friends, Timothy Bricker and Douglas Stillwell, at a home in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Corcoran was motivated to kill the men after he overheard them talking about him and fired on them using a semiautomatic rifle, court documents say, according to the IndyStar.
He then went to a next door neighbor and told them to call police.
Corcoran was subsequently sentenced to death, despite pleas from his defense attorneys that he suffered from schizophrenia.
"This tragedy had its roots in mental illness," his lawyers said in a statement obtained by WTHR-TV in July. "Mr. Corcoran is a person with a serious mental illness. Ohio and Kentucky, the only other two death penalty states around Indiana, have taken the pro-life position of not executing those people suffering from serious mental illnesses. Our filing simply suggests Indiana should consider doing the same."
Kevin Underwood
Underwood murdered his 10-year-old Oklahoma City neighbor Jamie Rose Bolin in 2006.
Underwood lured the girl to his apartment with promises of playing with his pet rat, investigators said, according to the McAlester News-Capital. He then smacked the girl on the back of the head with a cutting board and suffocated her.
He admitted to attempting to sexually assault and behead her. Underwood also said he planned to act out his fantasy of cannibalism but became "disgusted with himself" and couldn't follow through, said investigators, the paper reported.
Jamie's remains were found concealed in a plastic container in Underwood's apartment.
"Go ahead and arrest me," Underwood told authorities, according to the outlet. "She's in there. I hit her and chopped her up. I'm going to burn in hell."
During police questioning, Underwood admitted to his fondness for the victim.
"Kind of favored this girl. I had seen her. You know what, I really liked her," Underwood confessed, KOCO-TV reported, citing court records.
Underwood is slated to die on his birthday, Dec. 19.
Although Oklahoma primarily executes inmates via lethal injection; firing squad, lethal gas, electrocution, and hanging are also alternatives.
