This Week in 2009

“Is the mic on? My only statement is that no cases have ever tried have been error free. Those are my words. No cases are error free. You may proceed Warden.”

– Dale Devon Scheanette, convicted of rape and murder, lethal injection, Texas. Executed February 10, 2009.

Scheanette sexually assaulted, strangled, and drowned Christine Vu in the September of 1996. Two months later, the body of Wendie Prescott, who lived in the same apartment complex as Vu, was also found in similar condition. The murders remained unsolved for nearly four years until fingerprints and DNA samples were resubmitted to the FBI, leading the authorities to Scheanette, who had been serving a 12-month sentence for “criminal mischief.” Dubbed the “Bathtub Killer,” Scheanette was later connected to the sexual assaults of four other women in the area. While not tried for Vu’s death, Scheanette was convicted of Prescott’s murder.