The Virginia killer who had murdered a 16-year-old girl and raped her 14-year-old sister in 1999 has met his end, though 11 years after the traumatic incident. To add to his crime, he had even written taunting letters to the victim’s sister and mother, calling them gullible.
Virginia Department of Corrections has confirmed the news of execution of 31-year-old Paul Warner Powell, responsible for the murder of Stacie Reed and rape and near murder of Kristine Reed, who has been waging this lone battle to bring justice to her sister and herself.
The gruesome incident happened on 29 January 1999 in Manassas, Virginia. Stacie Reed was alone at home when the criminal, who was the victim’s acquaintance, entered her house, threatening the former not to develop relations with a Black man, showing how racist he was. He slaughtered Stacie and then waited for her younger sister to return home. As Kristine, who was 14 at that time, entered, he raped her and tried to stab her in the neck. He left the house thinking that Kristine was dead. Fortunately, Kristine, who is now 25 and an advocate for rape victims, survived the injury and trauma to avenge her sister’s brutal murder and her own trauma.
During the 11 years of his trial, Powell had written taunting letters to Kristine from the prison. In one of the letters to his prosecutor Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert, admitting his guilt, Powell wrote: "Since I have already been indicted on first degree murder and the Va. Supreme Court said that I can't be charged with capital murder again, I figured I would tell you the rest of what happened on Jan. 29, 1999, to show you how stupid all of y'all ... are. I guess I forgot to mention these events when I was being questioned. Ha Ha! Do you just hate yourself for being so stupid ... and saving me?"
Following the execution on Thursday night, Kristine said, "I need to know that he's gone, that we don't have to deal with this anymore. I was totally against the death penalty before this happened, and I didn't know why people would want to do it. But those people haven't been through what we've been through. Now I'm totally for it. He definitely deserves to die. He needs to die for what he did to Stacie."
Powell was electrocuted on Thursday night after Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell denied him clemency and the US Supreme Court directed the prosecutors to go ahead with the execution. The execution has certainly brought relief to Kristine, who terms her neck scars inflicted by Powell as “battle scars.” Before his execution, Lorraine Reed Whoberry, Kristine’s mother, said that the family had spoken with Powell over phone, who expressed remorse "in his own way" and acknowledged that his criminal act 11 years ago "was a senseless and pointless thing."
