Rhianna Benson
Yesterday, US prisoner Demetrius Terrence Frazier uttered his final words before being executed at Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama.
After awaiting his punishment on death row for three decades for both murder and serial rape, the 52-year-old's life was ended with nitrogen gas before a crowd of witnesses - including members of his victims' families.
In 1991, aged just 19, Frazier broke into the Birmingham, Alabama apartment of 40-year-old Pauline Starks Brown with the intention of robbing her home.
He then threatened the mother-of-two and raped her at gunpoint before fatally shooting her in the back of her head and fleeing the scene.
Advert
In the years after getting away with his first crime, Frazier moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he also murdered a 14-year-old runaway - Crystal Kendrick - with a gun amidst an attempt to rape her.
He was subsequently named as a suspect in her murder, before being named on a wanted list.
After being arrested, Frazier confessed to killing Brown.
In court in 1996, he was also tried and found guilty by a Wayne County jury of two further rapes out of a possible eight.
He was convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to death.
Frazier spent over 18 years at a correctional facility in Michigan before being moved to Alabama in 2011, where he'd await his execution.
Prior to his death, Frazier issued an emotional statement, appearing to show contrition for his heinous acts after some of Brown's family members were present.
He began: "I want to apologize to the family and friends of Pauline Brown.
"What happened to her should have never happened."
According to the Montgomery Advertiser, it was then that Frazier turned his attention to Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer.
He asked her: "If you cannot stand up for the constitution of Michigan, how are you going to stand up for the US Constitution when you run for president?"
Seconds prior to a nitrogen masked being strapped to his face, Frazier issued his final words.
"Detroit strong," he declared. "I love everyone on death row.
"Let’s go."
His mask was then closed, and at 6.13pm (local time), the gas began flowing.
Eight minutes later, the curtains to the execution chamber were closed after Frazier appeared to show no visible movement.
He was pronounced dead by staff at 6.36pm.
In a post-execution statement, Kay Ivey - the government of Alabama - announced: "We enforce the law. "You don’t come to our state and mess with our citizens and get away with it."
She added: "Rapists and murderers are not welcome on our streets, and tonight, justice was carried out for Pauline Brown and her loved ones.”