Leesa Gray | |
|---|---|
 Leesa Marie Gray, pictured before her death | |
| Born | Leesa Marie Gray July 11, 1983 |
| Died | June 23, 2000 (aged 16) |
| Cause of death | Strangulation |
| Resting place | Dorsey Memorial Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Itawamba Agricultural High School |
| Occupation | Student |
| Known for | Victim of a rape-murder case |
| Parent(s) | Wanda Farris (mother) John Gray (father) |
| Family | Mike Farris (stepfather) James Farris (brother) |
On the night of June 22, 2000, 16-year-old Leesa Marie Gray was abducted by Marine Corps recruiter Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. after she finished her shift at a restaurant in Dorsey, Mississippi. Loden held Gray captive inside his van, where he sexually abused her several times before he murdered her by strangling and suffocating her during the early morning hours of June 23, 2000. On that afternoon, Gray's naked body was found inside Loden's van, and Loden himself was found lying on the roadside with the words "I'm sorry" carved into his chest and self-inflicted cut wounds on his wrists.
In the following year of 2001, Loden, who waived his right to a jury trial, pleaded guilty to all six criminal charges, mainly capital murder, rape, and sexual battery, and he was sentenced to death for murdering Gray. Loden was incarcerated on death row for 21 years before he was executed via lethal injection on December 14, 2022. He remains the most recent person to be executed by the state of Mississippi.[1]
- ^ "Thomas Edwin Loden Jr executed after rape and murder of girl in 4-hour ordeal". The Mirror. December 14, 2022.