Bio

Joseph Blaine Starvaggi was born in 1942. He grew up in Champaign, Illinois. Details about his childhood and family life are not well-documented.

As he grew older, Joseph had run-ins with the law. He started getting into trouble for property-related crimes. This included theft and burglary. His criminal activities eventually led him to serve time in jail.

At some point, he joined the military. However, his time in the service did not go well. He received a bad conduct discharge, which impacted his reputation and future employment opportunities. After leaving the military, he continued to engage in criminal behavior.

In the years leading up to the murder for which he is known, Starvaggi was on probation for a burglary conviction. His history of the law included non-violent offenses, but he was deemed a threat to society due to his repeated criminal activities.

Murder Story

On the night of November 19, 1976, Joseph Blaine Starvaggi and two other men broke into the home of John Denson, who was a juvenile probation officer in Montgomery County, Texas. Their goal was to rob Denson of his valuable gun collection, which was worth six thousand dollars. During the break-in, a struggle occurred between Starvaggi and Denson. In this struggle, Starvaggi shot Denson multiple times. Denson's wife, Grace, and their 13-year-old daughter, Susan, were tied up and forced to remain hidden under a blanket while this was happening.

Susan managed to see through a small hole in the blanket and witnessed her father begging for his life. She heard the men yelling for Starvaggi to kill Denson. Despite the commands from his accomplices, Starvaggi refused to harm Grace and Susan. He claimed he only targeted "dopers and pigs," and instead, he left the house after taking ammunition from the gun cabinet.

Following the murder, Starvaggi was charged with Denson's killing. He was sentenced to death after a trial where his attorney claimed that the jury selection process was unfair and that Starvaggi had been temporarily insane at the time of the crime. However, these claims were denied. Starvaggi's defense also pointed out his previous record of non-violent offenses, but the court determined he was a threat to society.

Starvaggi spent ten years on death row. On September 10, 1987, he was executed by lethal injection in Texas. He did not request any visitors and did not have a final meal. He was pronounced dead shortly after midnight, becoming the 26th person put to death in Texas since the resumption of the death penalty in 1982.