US killer who murdered his girlfriend's young children by tying them up and torching their home is executed by lethal injection after final meal

A US murderer who killed his girlfriend's children was executed today by lethal injection. Jeffrey Weisheit killed Alyssa Lynch, eight, and five-year-old Caleb Lynch by setting fire to his partner's house in Evansville, Indiana, in 2010.Alyssa's body was in a closet. Caleb's body was on a mattress, restrained with duct tape. A railroad flare was in his underwear and another was under his body.The children's mother, Lisa Lynch, was at work at the time. She was in a relationship with Weisheit but it was breaking down, investigators said.Weisheit, 50, died at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City on Thursday. The lethal injection started just after midnight and he was pronounced dead at 12:45am local time, according to Noelle Russell, Indiana Department of Correction chief communications officer.She said Weisheit's final meal was barbecue ribs and he had no final words.Florida and Alabama were also set to carry out executions today, which would mark the second time this year that three people in the US would be put to death on the same day.This photo provided by the Indiana Department of Correction shows Jeffrey Weisheit. The Indiana Parole Board is recommending that the death penalty remain in place for Weisheit who killed two children in a house fire.(Indiana Department of Correction via AP)It will be Florida's 19th execution this year under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis - matching a record set by the state in 2025 - but the first this year in Indiana.The death penalty has faced renewed scrutiny following the September failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, although courts have rejected efforts to halt other executions since she survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital.Lawyers wanted Indiana Republican Governor Mike Braun to allow Weisheit to undergo brain scans in an effort to reinforce their argument that he has a history of head injuries and mental health problems. They argued his medical history of head injuries did not get enough attention at his 2013 trial. Mr Braun declined and he also turned down a request to reduce the sentence to life in prison.Weisheit's latest objection centered on the state's planned use of lethal drugs purchased from a pharmacy that is facing a disciplinary hearing next week at the Indiana Pharmacy Board. The Indiana Department of Correction said that it's confident 'in our ability to humanely carry out' the execution.Following the execution, Mr Braun issued a brief statement noting Weisheit's case was reviewed many times by state and federal courts.'These reviews have never resulted in an overturned sentence,' he said. 'Today, Weisheit's sentence has been carried out as ordered by the court.'Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said that the execution provided 'long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty.'In Florida, Jesse Guardado confessed and quickly pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to support his drug habit. She had helped him get a job and housing.A federal appeals court in 2024 said that Guardado, now 64, had received a 'full and fair' hearing during the death penalty phase of his case.Florida has carried out more than half the 32 total executions in the US so far this year. Mr DeSantis, who leaves office in January, has said that his goal is to bring justice to families who have waited decades for the death sentences to be carried out.Michael Taylor, 54, faces execution in Alabama, 35 years after fatally beating an older couple with a metal bar during a robbery in their Gadsden home. Police arrested the 19-year-old Taylor with the victims' Cadillac, an hour away in Birmingham. The execution would be the state's third this year.Death penalty opponents had urged Republican Governor Kay Ivey to reduce Taylor's sentence to life in prison, noting his age and immaturity at the time of the killings. She declined.'If the state kills Michael, it is not the 19-year-old who made the worst mistake of his life who it kills. But the mature, well-respected, God-fearing man sitting in that cell today,' said Esther Brown of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.The state plans to execute Taylor by lethal injection after a judge declared a nitrogen gas method unconstitutional. His attorneys objected to the last-minute switch to lethal injection since he selected nitrogen gas as his method several years ago, but a judge ruled against Taylor.