Man Who Raped and Killed Woman in 'Twisted Fantasy' with Girlfriend Is Executed: 'I Took a Life So Mine Was Forfeited'

An Alabama man who admitted to raping and killing a woman was executed this week.

James Osgood, 55, died by lethal injection on Thursday, April 24 at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., according to a statement from the office of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. He was pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m., the office said.

Osgood had spent more than 10 years on death row for the 2010 rape and murder of Tracy Lynn Brown at her home in Chilton County, Ala., per the statement. According to USA Today, Osgood admitted to authorities that he and his girlfriend, Tonya Vandyke, who was Brown’s cousin, sexually assaulted Brown before Osgood slit her throat and stabbed her in the back.

In his last moments, Osgood apologized to his victim, saying “I haven’t said her name since that day,” per the Associated Press. He also admitted the week prior that he deserved to die for his crime.

“I’m a firm believer in — like I said in court — an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I took a life, so mine was forfeited. I don’t believe in sitting here and wasting everybody’s time and everybody’s money,” the AP reported.

In 2014, a jury found Osgood guilty of capital murder and he was subsequently sentenced to death.

Despite pursuing post-conviction appeals for several years, Osgood ultimately admitted his guilt and requested that the state proceed with his death sentence, per the statement shared by the attorney general’s office.

Brown’s body was found on Oct. 23, 2010 after her employer became concerned when she failed to show up for work, according to the AP. 

The outlet reported that prosecutors said Osgood admitted to police that he and Vandyke, who is serving a life sentence for her role, attacked 44-year-old Brown after discussing fantasies of kidnapping and torturing someone.

At trial, Chief Assistant District Attorney C.J. Robinson said, “a life was taken because James Osgood decided he wanted to fulfill some twisted fantasy to kill someone,” USA Today reported.

Osgood’s attorneys have said in his previous appeals that the situation was consensual ​​and that it “quickly spun out of control,” AL.com reported.

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Trish Jackson remembered her late stepsister as a hardworking mother who was just getting back on her feet after a divorce when she was killed, according to USA Today.

“She totally restructured her life, started from scratch,” Jackson told the outlet. “Working at the nursing home, that’s part of who she was. She cared a lot about taking care of others and helping.”

Alison Mollman, the legal director for the ACLU of Alabama, represented Osgood for the last decade and remembered him as “a man who was more than his worst actions.”

“We will remember Taz the person, not James Osgood the ‘criminal,'” Mollman said in a statement posted on Instagram, using a family nickname. “We will remember that actions may be evil or bad, but people are not. People are redeemable.”