Joseph Rudolph Wood III was born on December 6, 1958, in the United States. Details of his early life, upbringing, and education remain limited in public records, but his name became infamous due to the violent murders he committed in 1989 and the controversial execution that followed 25 years later.

By the late 1980s, Wood was in a volatile relationship with Debra Dietz, a young woman employed at her family's auto body shop in Tucson, Arizona. Their relationship was reportedly abusive, marked by obsessive and controlling behavior on Wood's part. Debra had ended the relationship prior to her murder, which appeared to escalate Wood’s instability and anger.

He had previously threatened and harassed Debra, including incidents where he confronted her at work. Despite the end of their romantic involvement, Wood could not let go.

On the morning of August 7, 1989, Joseph Wood entered Dietz Body Shop in Tucson, Arizona. His estranged girlfriend, 29-year-old Debra Dietz, was working alongside her father, 55-year-old Eugene Dietz. Without warning, Wood pulled out a firearm and shot Eugene in the chest, killing him. Debra attempted to flee, but Wood followed and shot her point-blank, killing her as well. The crime was witnessed by several individuals, and Wood was immediately arrested at the scene.

He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer during his apprehension. In 1991, he was convicted on all charges and sentenced to death for the murders, along with 15-year concurrent sentences for the assaults.

Wood spent over two decades on Arizona’s death row, filing multiple appeals and clemency requests — all ultimately denied. He became one of the first inmates in Arizona to be executed using a new drug combination: midazolam and hydromorphone, a method already controversial due to a similar botched execution in Ohio earlier that year.

On July 23, 2014, at Florence State Prison, Wood’s execution began at 1:52 p.m. MST. The procedure, intended to last about ten minutes, instead dragged on for nearly two hours. Witnesses reported that Wood gasped, snorted, and struggled to breathe for over 90 minutes, with one reporter counting over 600 gasps. His breathing was likened to “a fish gulping for air.” He was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m.

His attorneys filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in the middle of the procedure, stating, "He is still alive." The appeal was denied by Justice Anthony Kennedy after Wood had already died.

Media coverage described the execution as “botched,” leading to public outrage and a call for investigation. Critics pointed to the use of the untested drug cocktail, while state officials argued that Wood had been sedated the entire time and did not feel pain. An independent medical review later confirmed that Wood was likely unconscious and unresponsive throughout the process.

After the execution, Governor Jan Brewer ordered a full review of Arizona's execution protocols. She defended the procedure as “lawful” and emphasized that whatever Wood may have experienced paled in comparison to the suffering he inflicted on his victims’ family.

In a moving response, Jeanne Brown, Debra Dietz’s sister, told the media: “What I saw today with him being executed, it is nothing compared to what happened on August 7, 1989. What’s excruciating is seeing your father lying there in a pool of blood, seeing your sister lying in a pool of blood.”