Pablo Lucio Vasquez

The Ellis Unit housed the State of Texas death row for men until mid-1999. Allan B. Polunsky Unit houses the State of Texas death row for men.

Pablo Lucio Vasquez (August 11, 1977 April 6, 2016) was an American man convicted of the murder of a 12-year-old boy and executed in the U.S. state of Texas. The murder occurred in Donna, Texas, in the state's Rio Grande Valley region.

Due to the way he murdered his victim, Vasquez was called "the vampire killer".

Background David Cardenas, the victim, was a 12-year-old boy who lived in his sister's residence in Alamo, Texas.

Murder On April 18, 1998, Andres Rafael "Andy" Chapa (born February 7, 1983).

Vasquez's trial began in 1999, and his lawyer was James Keegan; Joseph Orendain was the lead prosecutor. Vasquez was convicted and given a death sentence. Chapa received a 35-year sentence after pleading guilty. The relatives who assisted the perpetrators received fines and/or probation, and one was deported back to Guatemala.

Vasquez's lawyer unsuccessfully argued that he should not be executed as he was mentally ill. At the time of his execution, Vasquez was 38 years old, having spent 18 years on Texas's death row.

The execution marked the sixth in Texas and the eleventh in the United States in 2016.