In the late autumn of 1997, the life of twelve-year-old Stephen Edward Holton, a white male, was tragically cut short in Shelbyville, Tennessee. On November 30th, he, along with his younger brothers, ten-year-old Brent and six-year-old Eric, and their four-year-old half-sister, Kayla Marie Holton, were victims of a horrific act of violence that stemmed from a bitter custody dispute. The four children were in the care of their father for what they were told would be a day of Christmas shopping.
Their father, Daryl Keith Holton, a thirty-six-year-old Gulf War veteran, took his children to his uncle's auto repair garage where he had been living. It was there, in the cold confines of the garage, that he ended their lives. Using a Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle, he first shot his two eldest sons, Stephen and Brent. He then concealed their bodies before calling over the two younger children, Eric and Kayla, and shooting them as well.
Approximately an hour after committing the murders, Daryl Holton drove to the Shelbyville Police Department and turned himself in. He calmly informed the dispatcher that he wished to report a 'homicide times four.' When questioned, he expressed that families should stay together and a father should be with his children. Investigators also discovered pipe bombs that Holton admitted were intended for his ex-wife.
Daryl Holton was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder. During his trial, his defense attorneys argued that he suffered from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service. However, Holton himself was largely uncooperative with any legal strategy that would spare him the death penalty. He was subsequently convicted on all four counts of premeditated first-degree murder.
Following his conviction, Daryl Holton was sentenced to death. He waived his appeals and chose to die by the electric chair, a method that had not been used in Tennessee for forty-seven years. On September 12, 2007, his sentence was carried out at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. For his last meal, he ate the standard prison fare, and when asked for his last words, he simply replied, 'Two words: I do.' His execution brought a final, somber end to a case that had begun with the devastating loss of four young lives.
