Kenneth Granviel

Kenneth Granviel (August 4, 1950 – February 27, 1996) was an American serial killer who was responsible for the sexually motivated murders of seven people in Fort Worth, Texas from 1974 to 1975, most notably the mass murder of three women and two children. After willingly admitting to the crimes, and after several delays and challenges to his sentence, he was convicted, sentenced to death and executed in 1996. From an early age, Granviel was considered an odd, reclusive child who was often by himself, had few friends and almost never interacted with girls. At the time, he was dating Everlene Gould, the oldest of three sisters belonging to the McClendon family, who would later claim that he was occasionally violent towards her in arguments.

Riverside Village On October 8, 1974, Granviel was driving around the Riverside Village apartment complex when he got the sudden urge to have sex with one of the McClendon sisters, 21-year-old Laura. He drove to the apartment, knocked on the front door and was let in to have a glass of water. At the time, the apartment was occupied by Laura, her 19-year-old sister Linda, 24-year-old cousin Martha, and two children, Steven and Natasha, both 2-year-olds.

He then led Laura to another room, where he began to rape her. At that time, Natasha started crying, prompting Granviel to start stabbing her, before tossing her onto the floor and stabbing her some more. The victims were all later found when the family's stepfather arrived to take the two women to their job at a furniture store. According to later testimonies from friends and co-workers, he occasionally discussed the murders, saying that the man who did it "ought to be hung."

South Side On February 8, 1975, feeling the urge to kill again, Granviel lured a friend of his, 24-year-old Betty Williams, into his apartment on the pretence of giving her a package of cigarettes. While he was ruled out in several, he was considered a credible suspect in two: the 1967 murder of 37-year-old Mildred May, whose nude and battered body was found along the I-35W near Fort Worth, since he had already been questioned in the death at the time. The other was the 1974 murder of 18-year-old Cheryl Callaway, who was stabbed 47 times with an ice pick at a parking lot in Arlington. However, he was never charged in either murder, both of which remain unsolved.

Trial and sentence In Granviel's subsequent trial, numerous witnesses came forward to testify regarding his odd behavior before and after the murders, including Gould, who was the first witness brought forward.

His sentence was automatically appealed, but subsequently upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals the following year. With his initial execution date set for September 14, 1977, Granviel was scheduled to be the first inmate to be executed under Texas' new lethal injection protocol. This motion was challenged by his attorneys, who argued that this was unconstitutional, as they considered it "even more cruel" than the previous method of electrocution. Eventually, they succeeded in granting him a stay of execution, allowing him to remain on death row for more than 20 years.

Execution After several delays and stays of executions, Granviel was executed via lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on February 27, 1996. He declined to make a final statement.