John Fautenberry Executed For Killing Spree

A former truck driver who went on a multistate killing spree has been executed in Ohio for the murder of a Cincinnati-area man who gave him a ride in 1991.Forty-five-year-old John Fautenberry of Oregon was pronounced dead at 10:37 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Fautenberry was sentenced to death for the slaying of Joseph Daron Jr., who picked him up while he was hitchhiking on Feb. 17, 1991.Fautenberry also confessed to killing a four people in three other states — Alaska, Oregon and New Jersey — during a five-month period in late 1990 and early 1991.Fautenberry is the first inmate executed in Ohio since June 3.

John Fautenberry is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10 a.m. at the state prison in Lucasville. Fautenberry, a former Oregon truck driver, was sentenced to death for murdering Joseph Daron Jr., 46, of Milford, in February 1991.Fautenberry gave up his right to a trial by jury in Cincinnati and pleaded no contest on July 23, 1992, to two counts each of aggravated murder and grand theft and one count of aggravated robbery.

Fautenberry confessed to killing a total of five people in four states — Alaska, Oregon, Ohio and New Jersey — during a five-month period in late 1990 and early 1991.