Longest-Serving Man on Miss. Death Row Executed for 1976 Murder: 'Should Have Happened a Long Time Ago,' Victim’s Son Says

Nearly five decades after the murder and ransom scheme that landed him behind bars, the longest-serving man on Mississippi’s death row was executed.

The convicted killer, 79-year-old Richard Jordan, was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, June 25, at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison farm, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC).

Execution procedures for Jordan — a Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, per the Associated Press — began at 6 p.m. local time, and he was pronounced dead 16 minutes later, the department said. 

Jordan was the state’s longest-serving death row inmate when executed, according to the MDOC. He was also the oldest.

Ordered by the Mississippi Supreme Court on May 1, Jordan’s June 25 execution came after several denied appeals from his attorneys, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, the MDOC said. He was among several individuals on Mississippi’s death row who sued the state over its three-drug execution protocol, which they argued was inhumane, according to the AP.

Before the execution Jordan thanked his lawyers and wife, the AP reported. In a final statement, he said, “First, I would like to thank everyone for a humane way of doing this. I want to apologize to the victim’s family.”

His last words, the outlet reported, were: “I will see you on the other side, all of you.”

He enjoyed a last meal with his family prior to the execution, MDOC commissioner Burl Cain later told reporters.

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Jordan was sentenced to death four times for the kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter — a 35-year-old married mother of two — in Gulfport, Miss., 49 years ago, according to the MDOC. The kidnapping was part of what the AP dubbed a “violent ransom scheme.”

On Jan. 13, 1976, Jordan called a Gulfport bank and asked to speak with a loan officer, and employees told him that Charles Marter, Edwina’s husband, could speak with him, the AP reported. He then hung up and found Charles’ address.

Posing as an electrical repairman, Jordan then went to the loan officer’s residence and kidnapped Edwina, who was home with her 3-year-old son, at gunpoint, the MDOC said. Jordan then took the mother of two to a forest, where he shot and killed her, before falsely claiming that she was unharmed in order to demand $25,000 in ransom, per the AP.

Speaking with the outlet ahead of Jordan’s execution, one of Edwina’s sons, Eric Marter, told the AP that “it should have happened a long time ago.”

Eric, who was 11 years old when his mother was killed, added, “I’m not really interested in giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

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Edwina’s family also shared a statement, which a spokesperson read on their behalf in a press conference following the execution.

“Nothing will bring back our mom, sister and our friend. Nothing can ever change what Jordan took from us 49 years ago,” the spokesperson said, in part. “Jordan tried desperately to change his ruling so he can simply die in prison. We never had an option. He took Edwina’s life, never thought about the many people who loved her and relied on her. He took her away from us, never thinking about us.”

“Why should he get to live in prison and die of natural causes?” the spokesperson added. “We feel that he should have to endure the suffering of knowing his death was only hours away, just like Edwina had to endure.”

The spokesperson also said that although Edwina’s sons, now ages 52 and 59, “may forgive him, it doesn’t change what they had to miss for 49 years.”