An Arizona man convicted of murder in the 1984 killing of an eight-year-old girl was put to death on Wednesday.
State Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Frank Atwood, 66, died by lethal injection at the state prison in Florence, Arizona, for murdering Vicki Lynne Hoskinson.
"To an innocent child whose life was brutally taken and a family that has had to endure decades of suffering, Arizonans will never forget," Brnovich said in a statement.
"Today, we remember Vicki Lynne and stand together with her loved ones and the Tucson community as their unwavering quest for justice is finally realized."
More on this story in the report below:Vicki Lynne went missing while riding her bicycle home in Tucson, Arizona on September 17, 1984. She was on her way back from mailing her aunt a birthday card.
Brnovich said Atwood murdered the young girl and then dumped her body in the desert, before fleeing to Texas. Her body was found by a hiker seven months later.
The attorney general revealed that before moving to Tucson and murdering Vicki Lynne, the killer had been convicted of kidnapping two children in California.
The inmate died at 10:16AM, 12 minutes after he was injected with pentobarbital, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Vicki Lynne’s mother, Debbie Carlson, stepfather George Carlson, and other family members witnessed the execution.
Witnesses at the execution disclosed at a news conference after Atwood died that he was accompanied by a Greek Orthodox priest and in his last words, he prayed for mercy.
They reported that Atwood thanked the priest "for coming today and shepherding me into the faith" and added: "I pray the Lord will have mercy on all of us and that the Lord will have mercy on me."
Rebecca Marie, photojournalist for the Arizona Daily Star shared a series of photos of Vicki Lynne's supporters standing outside the Arizona State Prison Complex during the execution of Frank J. Atwood,
Atwood’s death comes just a month after the state of Arizona executed Clarence Dixon - the first man put to death in the state since 2014.
Capital punishment in the state was put to a halt after the execution of Joseph Wood in July 2012. The inmate was injected 15 times and struggled for nearly two hours before he passed.
Activists against the death penalty are concerned that Arizona will begin executing more inmates on death row after the long pause. Associated Press asked state officials for comment on its plans, but they did not answer.
