Bio 

Loyd Winford Lafevers was born on August 28, 1965. He lived in Oklahoma and was 19 years old at the time of the murder of Addie Mae Hawley in June 1985. Before the murder, Lafevers was associated with Randall Eugene Cannon, who later became his co-defendant. Court records state that both men were involved in a series of crimes on the night of June 24, 1985. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals later described the case as involving the home invasion, kidnapping, robbery, and murder of 84-year-old Addie Hawley.

Lafevers and Cannon were both prosecuted for Hawley’s death. Each man later tried to place greater blame on the other. Lafevers admitted involvement in the burglary and kidnapping but claimed Cannon was responsible for the killing. Cannon blamed Lafevers. Despite those conflicting claims, both men were convicted and sentenced to death.

Murder Story

On the night of June 24, 1985, Loyd Winford Lafevers and Randall Eugene Cannon went to the home of 84-year-old Addie Mae Hawley in Oklahoma City. Prosecutors said the men entered the home to rob her. Hawley was beaten, her home was ransacked, and she was taken from the house. Reports state that she was placed in the trunk of a car and driven away from the home.

Hawley was later taken to a vacant or remote area. She was badly beaten, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. She was found later that night lying nude and incoherent in a vacant lot. She had severe burns over more than 60 percent of her body. She was taken to Baptist Hospital, where she died in the early morning hours of June 25, 1985.

The case involved several serious charges. In the original joint trial, Lafevers was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery, kidnapping, vehicle theft, arson, rape, and anal sodomy. He received a death sentence for the murder conviction. However, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals later reversed the convictions because Lafevers and Cannon should have been tried separately.

Lafevers was retried separately in 1993. He was again convicted of first-degree murder and third-degree arson and was again sentenced to death. In 1995, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the murder and arson judgments and sentences.

Years later, Lafevers received a stay of execution after DNA testing was requested on evidence from the case. The disputed DNA evidence involved blood found on a pair of jeans. Prosecutors had suggested during trial that the blood belonged to Hawley, but later testing showed it did not. Courts found that the DNA issue did not prove Lafevers was innocent or justify overturning the conviction or death sentence.

Lafevers was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on January 30, 2001. He was 35 years old. His execution made him the seventh Oklahoma inmate executed that year and the 37th person executed in Oklahoma after the state resumed executions in 1990.