Bio

Tracy Alan Hansen was born in Florida on May 25, 1963. By the time of the 1987 killing, Hansen already had a long criminal record in Florida. The Mississippi Supreme Court noted that between July 1981 and October 1984, he had at least ten felony convictions. These included eight property crimes and two escape-related convictions.

In the spring of 1987, Hansen was traveling with Anita Louise Krecic. The two were wanted in Florida in connection with a string of robberies that stretched from Fort Lauderdale to Gainesville.

On April 10, 1987, Hansen and Krecic left Florida in a dark blue Lincoln Continental and traveled west through Mississippi. Hansen was driving when they entered Harrison County on Interstate 10.

Murder Story

On Friday, April 10, 1987, Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Officer David Bruce Ladner was patrolling Interstate 10 in Harrison County, Mississippi. He observed a dark blue Lincoln Continental being driven erratically and speeding.

Hansen was driving the vehicle, and Anita Krecic was the passenger. Trooper Ladner pulled the car over. At first, the traffic stop appeared to involve a possible traffic violation or driving-while-intoxicated investigation.

During the stop, Ladner became suspicious and asked for permission to search the vehicle. Hansen and Krecic consented to the search but gave false names. Hansen used the name Christopher Larcinesse, while Krecic used the name Barbara Gilbert. Ladner took the keys to the Lincoln and placed them in his pocket.

The exact sequence that followed was disputed in some details, but court records establish that Hansen drew a .38-caliber pistol and fired at Trooper Ladner. Ladner tried to avoid the gunfire by moving around the car and dropping toward the ground.

Hansen fired two close-range shots. Both struck Ladner in the back area. Despite being badly wounded, Ladner was able to reach the median of the highway. A passing motorist, Charles Shirley, stopped and transported him to the hospital.

After the shooting, Hansen and Krecic fled in Ladner’s patrol car. They later abandoned it and stole a Ford Ranger from a deaf-mute driver named Daisy Morgan. They continued moving through Hancock County while trying to find transportation toward New Orleans.

After midnight, Hansen and Krecic were stopped by Mississippi state troopers Freddie Keel and Darryl Deschamp. They were taken into custody. Trooper Ladner remained hospitalized but died approximately 31 hours after the shooting, in the early morning hours of April 12, 1987. After his death, the charges against Hansen were upgraded to capital murder.

On May 28, 1987, a Harrison County grand jury indicted Hansen for capital murder. The indictment charged that he murdered a peace officer who was acting in his official capacity and that Hansen knew Ladner was an officer.

Because of pretrial publicity, Hansen’s trial was moved from Harrison County to Hinds County. The trial began in Jackson, Mississippi, on October 26, 1987. A jury found Hansen guilty of capital murder. During the penalty phase, the jury found aggravating circumstances, including that the killing was committed to avoid or prevent lawful arrest or to effect escape from custody. The jury sentenced him to death.

Hansen’s co-defendant, Anita Louise Krecic, was also convicted in connection with the case and received a life sentence. Hansen appealed his conviction and sentence. In 1991, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the judgment. In later post-conviction proceedings, the court addressed several claims, including the method of execution. His sentence was ultimately carried out by lethal injection.

In the years before his execution, Hansen wrote publicly about his remorse and opposition to the death penalty. In a letter to The Clarion-Ledger, he said he did not intend to kill Ladner and described the shooting as a panic reaction while he was running from the law.

Tracy Alan Hansen was executed by lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman on July 17, 2002. He was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. He was 39 years old.

His execution was Mississippi’s first execution since 1989 and the state’s first execution by lethal injection.