Bio

Richard L. Odom was born on August 13, 1960, in Mississippi. His parents married when his father was eighteen and his mother was fifteen. Richard had an older sister and a younger sister. When he was two and a half years old, his parents gave him up for adoption. He never saw his mother again and had only a brief encounter with his father when he was thirteen.

After his adoption, Richard was raised by Jimmy and Shirley Odom. Shirley divorced Jimmy about a year after the adoption, and she remarried Marvin Bruce. Marvin was cruel to Richard and his stepbrother. He abused them and made threats against them. Richard often faced harsh treatment, such as having hot sauce put in his food and facing verbal abuse for bedwetting.

As a child, Richard was often left in daycare for long periods. By age twelve, he began to run away from home and show signs of delinquent behavior. At age thirteen, he was charged with larceny in juvenile court and placed in a facility called the Columbia Training School. During his time there, a psychologist diagnosed him as "incorrigible" and "not fit for society."

When he turned fifteen, a second psychologist stated he was likely to spend his life in institutions. He was released into the community on supervised juvenile parole at age sixteen. However, when he was seventeen, he committed his first murder.

Murder Story

Richard L. Odom committed his first murder on May 4, 1978, when he was just 17 years old. He killed Mary Rebecca Roberts in Rankin County, Mississippi. Odom used a .22 caliber rifle and a knife to carry out the crime. He shot Roberts multiple times and then stabbed her. After the murder, he stole money and firearms from her home. He was quickly arrested and later pleaded guilty, receiving a life sentence.

On May 10, 1991, Odom murdered again, this time targeting 77-year-old Mina Ethyl Johnson in a parking garage in Shelby County, Tennessee. He raped and stabbed her before fleeing the scene. Johnson's body was found in her car, and police quickly linked Odom to the crime through fingerprints found in the vehicle. He was arrested a few days later while in possession of a knife. Odom confessed to the crime, stating his intention was to steal from Johnson.

Odom faced multiple trials for the murder of Mina Johnson. In 1992, he was convicted and sentenced to death, but this sentence was overturned on appeal. A new jury was assembled, and in 1995, he was again sentenced to death, but that decision was also reversed. Finally, in 2007, a third jury sentenced him to death, a verdict that was upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2011.

Throughout his legal battles, Odom's case gained attention, particularly concerning the legal definitions of murder and the application of the death penalty. His actions led to significant discussions about victims' rights and the implications of his previous violent crimes. He was resentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of Johnson, and his legal status remained in the courts for years, reflecting the complexities of capital punishment cases.