Man convicted of killing a 15-year-old girl in her home in 2001 is executed by injection in Indiana
October 10, 2025
Indiana officials have executed a man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl. Roy Lee Ward was put to death early Friday by injection at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The 53-year-old was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne and sentenced to death. She was killed in the family’s home in the small southern Indiana community of Dale. Attorneys said Ward had exhausted his legal options after more than two decades of court battles.