A Texas mother whose daughter was murdered by the "Desert Serial Killer" says she plans to watch him die next month.
David Leonard Wood, 67, is set to be executed March 13 by lethal injection for a series of murders in the El Paso area in 1987.
"I haven't waited 37 years to miss it, that's for sure," 72-year-old Marcia Fulton told El Paso Inc.
Fulton's daughter Desiree was one of six women and girls authorities say Wood killed. The ages of the victims ranged between 14 and 24.
Police and prosecutors indicted Wood for six murders: Angelica Frausto, 17; Dawn Smith, 14; Desiree Wheatley, 15; Ivy Susanna Williams, 23; Rosa Maria Casio, 24; and Karen Baker, 20, the El Paso Times reported. They suspected Wood in the disappearances of Cheryl Vazquez, 19; Melissa Alaniz, 14; and Margie Knox, 14, of Chaparral. Those individuals disappeared in the Northeast El Paso area in 1987, but were never found.
Wood had a substantial criminal history before the "Desert Serial Killer" case. Among his convictions was the 1980 rape of a 12-year-old girl. Wood was sentenced to 20 years, but served seven years in the case and was paroled, the El Paso Times reported.
Before the 1980 rape, Wood had served time for a 1976 case in which he pleaded guilty to indecency with a child. He was 19 when he went to prison for that case in 1977, the newspaper reported.
Wood has maintained his innocence, arguing that his history made him an easy target for police. Wood and his lawyers have also pointed to the lack of physical evidence in the case.
"David Wood is actually innocent. He did not commit these crimes," Wood's attorney, Gregory Wiercioch, told El Paso Inc.
Wood's legal team has been seeking a stay of execution and more DNA testing on the case. Tests of DNA in 1992 were inconclusive. A test in 2010 raised doubts about the case, Wood's attorneys said arguing that there should be additional DNA tests, El Paso Inc. reported.
"We have litigated DNA testing for over a decade because the state opposed it," Wiercioch told El Paso Inc. "There's a boatload of DNA out there, potential evidentiary items that could have DNA on them that have never been tested in this case, and yet we're prepared to execute him in less than 30 days."
Among the evidence against Wood was the testimony of two inmates. Randy Wells testified that Wood told him how he would lure the women into his pickup truck with promises of drugs, drive them out to the desert, tie them to the truck and dig their graves, according to a court filing. Another inmate, James Carl Sweeney, Jr., said that Wood kept showing him clippings of the killings and told him he did it.
A key witness against Wood was a woman he raped in 1987. The assault occurred in the same time frame of the killings. The court filing states that Wood offered the woman a ride and drove her to the desert—near where bodies would eventually be found. He tied her up, and began assaulting her, only stopping when he heard voices.
Wood allegedly got her back in the truck and drove to another location where the process started again, but again, the assault was interrupted. This time Wood loaded up his truck with his belongings and left the woman naked in the desert. Before he left, he said to her, "Always remember, I'm free," the court filing states.
Originally published on Latin Times
