Indiana man convicted in 2001 rape and murder of teenager to be executed by lethal injection

CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was set to die by lethal injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

Roy Lee Ward, 53, was scheduled to be put to death before sunrise at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne and sentenced to death. The brutal crime, which happened in the family’s home in Dale, rocked the small community of roughly 1,500 people.

Attorneys said Ward has exhausted his legal options after many court battles.

“He’s very remorseful about this horrible crime,” said his attorney Joanna Green.

Ward’s execution comes amid questions about Indiana’s handling of pentobarbital. Last year state officials ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections but which had been unavailable for years.

The Indiana Department of Correction said it had obtained “enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for Ward's execution. Ward's attorneys though have raised concerns about the use of the drug and how the state stored it, including temperature issues.

Ward’s expected execution in Indiana on Friday is the first of eight that are set to be carried out in October in seven different U.S. states, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses. Ward’s witness list includes attorneys and spiritual advisors.

His case has trailed through the courts for more than 20 years.

Ward was found guilty of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to death. But after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, he pleaded guilty in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana seeking to stop all pending executions.

Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.

The victim’s family members said they were ready for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor student and cheerleader with an influence beyond her short life.

“Now our family gatherings are no longer whole, holidays still empty. Birthdays are sad reminders of what we lost,” her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board last month. “Our family has endured emotional devastation.”

Ward, who declined interview requests through his attorneys, has said little publicly. He skipped a parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family travel to the prison and he can’t always say what he means.

Attorneys say Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affects his ability to communicate.

One of his spiritual advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, said Ward has thought deeply about his actions.

“He knows he did it,” Nosbusch said. “He knows it was horrendous.”

This undated photo provided by the Indiana Department of Correction shows Roy Lee Ward, who was convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne. (Indiana Department of Correction via AP)

FILE - The interior of the U.S. Penitentiary execution room is seen March 22, 1995, in Terre Haute, Ind. (AP Photo/Chuck Robinson, File)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)