James Homer Elledge

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James Homer Elledge (1943 – August 28, 2001) was an American murderer who was executed by lethal injection in Washington State Penitentiary for the murder of 47 year old Eloise Jane Fitzner.

[edit] The crimes

In 1965, Elledge robbed a Western Union office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During this robbery, he also kidnapped a female attendant. He was sentenced to prison in Santa Fe, New Mexico and, after his parole, he wound up in Seattle, Washington, where he killed motel manager Bertha Lush in 1974 by beating her to death with a ball-peen hammer in an argument over his bill. While in prison for that crime, he got paroled three times, the last of which happened in August of 1995.

On April 18, 1998, Elledge invited Eloise Fitzner and her friend, only referred to as "S.C.", into a Bible-study room of a church where he worked as a custodian. After closing the door, he pulled a knife and bound the two women’s wrists and ankles. He put a sweatshirt over S.C.'s head and made her face the wall. When S.C. heard struggling behind her, she tried to see what was happening. Elledge noticed this and threatened to kill S.C. next if she did not remain faced to the wall. Elledge first strangled Ms. Fitzner with his hands and then, not sure if she was dead, he fatally stabbed her in the neck. After hiding the body, Elledge abducted S.C. and drove them home in Ms. Fitzner’s car. At his home, he sexually assaulted S.C. and released her the following day. S.C. immediately went to police. Elledge was arrested two days later and confessed.

[edit] Trial and Execution

On July 28, 1998, after being found guilty, Elledge was sentenced to death. Waiving all his rights to appeal, he was executed by lethal injection on August 28, 2001 at Washington State Penitentiary.

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