They canceled the execution of a serial killer who had been in prison for 50 years: they tried to give him a lethal injection eight times

Running through lethal injection of a serial murderer convicted, expected in the state of Idaho, in the northwestern United States, was suspended this Wednesday because a medical team failed to apply it within the legal deadline, so the convict returned to his cell, officials of the local prison system reported. It was later eight failed attempts to find a vein.

Thomas CreechThe 73-year-old was scheduled to be executed Wednesday morning, but the execution of the death sentence was quashed an hour later, the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) said in a statement.

“After consulting with Chief Josh Tewalt, it was determined that the medical team could not establish an intravenous line, making the execution impossible and as a result the death sentence will expire,” IDOC said in a statement.

“The state of Idaho will evaluate next steps,” he concluded.

This established that Creech was returned to his cell, according to the AFP news agency.

Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) Director Josh Tewalt said the execution took place canceled after eight failed attempts to insert an intravenous line into the arms and legs by Creech.

“We have no idea the timing or next steps” for a new execution attempt, Tewalt told reporters at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, south of the capital Boise.

Brenda Rodriguez, a reporter for local television station KTVB, said Creech did not appear to be in much pain, although she commented at one point that “his legs hurt a little”. “When the execution stopped, he was just looking up,” said Rodríguez, a journalist authorized to participate witness to the execution. “He also felt almost relieved,” she added.

The last failed execution in the United States was that of convicted murderer Kenneth Smith in Alabama in November 2022, again by lethal injection.

Smith was finally executed in January this year in the country’s first execution using nitrogen gas, a procedure hotly contested and discouraged by doctors and prosecutors who believe it can cause unnecessary suffering due to asphyxiation.

This method involves depriving the prisoner of oxygen and making him breathe only nitrogen. This prevents the brain and other tissues from receiving oxygen, causing death.

Who is Thomas Creech, the serial killer who cannot be executed?

Bald on the top of his head, but with white hair on the sides. His goatee beard concludes the face of Thomas Creech, identified with the number 14,984 in the Idaho prison where until last Wednesday he was waiting to be executed by lethal injection.

Now, after eight failed attempts, he awaits in his cell what will happen the next steps that the state authorities decide.

Creech, 73, is the oldest of the prisoners held “death row”as the last pavilion they occupy before being executed is called in the United States.

Does half a century behind bars after being accused of murdering two men in 1974. In that case he had been sentenced to death, but by decision of the United States Supreme Court his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.

Although in that process denied killing to Edward T. Arnold, 34, and John W. Bradford, 40, he confessed to killing 42 other people. He later claimed that there were actually 26, although not even his lawyers believe him, according to a profile published by the local press. He would later admit that he was trapped in his own lies and you don’t know the exact number of their mortal victims.

In 1982, he told the AP that 11 men raped his wife before throwing her from the second floor, and although his wife survived, Creech said that led him to want revenge on his attackers.

As he himself revealed, he killed 9 of them.

He also told the Wall Street Journal that some of the crimes committed were under the influence of amphetamines and other drugs. In 1981, when she was 30 years old, killed another inmate in a prison maximum safety with a sock full of batteries, blows and beatings on the head and throat.

While waiting to be executed this Wednesday, the AP agency specified that, already on the stretcher, with his arms and legs tied, he continued to look at his relatives and even seemed to say to someone: “I love you”.

One prosecutor went so far as to not deny that Creech was “charming.” Born in Ohio, he has followers who say he has “changed.” He married the mother of a prison officer and they say he likes to write poetry.