The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has issued a surprising stay of execution for David Leonard Wood, who has consistently denied being known as the ‘Desert Killer’ and maintained his innocence in a recent interview with USA TODAY. The stay was granted “until further order of this court” without providing a reason, just over 48 hours before Wood, aged 67, was scheduled for lethal injection on Thursday. Wood has spent close to forty years on Texas Death Row, despite no DNA evidence linking him to the 1987 murders of six women and girls in El Paso.
In a profound turn of events, the Texas court’s decision coincided with a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily halting that state’s first planned nitrogen gas execution, citing potential pain and infringement of the inmate’s constitutional rights. For more on Wood’s case, click here to explore the Louisiana situation.
Key Points About Wood’s Conviction:
David Leonard Wood was found guilty of the killings of six women and girls in 1987, commonly referred to as the Desert Killer case. The victims were Dawn Marie Smith (14), Desiree Wheatley (15), Angelica Frausto (17), Karen Baker (20), Ivy Susanna Williams (23), and Rosa Maria Casio (24). Their remains were discovered in various stages of decay in shallow graves in the northeastern El Paso desert. While the cause of death could not be definitively determined for all, at least one victim had been strangled.
Although authorities suspected three missing girls—Melissa Alaniz (12), Marjorie Knox (14), and Cheryl Vasquez-Dismukes (19)—were also linked to the Desert Killer, their bodies were never recovered. Wood’s conviction relied heavily on circumstantial evidence as there has never been any DNA proof linking him to the crimes. Prosecutors argued that the pattern of the murders, particularly the burial sites, pointed to Wood as the perpetrator.
During the trial, El Paso Assistant District Attorney Karen Shook highlighted that the evidence overwhelmingly pointed to Wood as the culprit. Testimony from two jail informants who claimed Wood confessed to the crimes, along with a sex worker’s account of being assaulted by Wood in the same desert area, played pivotal roles in the case. However, Wood vehemently denies these allegations, asserting that all testimonies were fabricated to secure favorable treatment for the witnesses in their legal matters.
In a recent court filing, Wood’s lawyers stated that jailhouse informants and a sex worker involved in the case had either received reduced prison sentences or were seeking financial rewards. The filing also included a statement from a man named George Hall, who recounted how El Paso police tried to coerce him into lying about Wood confessing to the murders while they were imprisoned together. Another testimony came from a 26-year-old woman who claimed that Wood raped her when she was 13 under an El Paso bridge. Additionally, a woman testified that Wood had lured her at age 12 under the pretense of searching for a lost dog, only to rape her at a construction site nearby.
The state’s remaining evidence included witnesses who claimed to have seen some of the victims with Wood before their deaths, as well as microscopic orange fibers that prosecutors argued linked one victim’s body to Wood’s vacuum cleaner and a blanket in his truck. David Leonard Wood, known as the “Desert Killer,” is set to be executed on Thursday, March 13, 2025, at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Huntsville Unit prison in Livingston, Texas. Wood has been on Texas Death Row since 1992, following his conviction for the murders of six women and girls.
Wood’s attorney, Gregory Wiercioch, criticized the state’s weak evidence connecting Wood to the crimes and questioned the lack of DNA testing on most of the collected items from the crime scenes. Despite hundreds of pieces of evidence, only three were tested, with inconclusive results on fingernail scrapings and bloodstains. New DNA testing obtained by the defense in 2010 determined that one bloodstain belonged to a man other than Wood.
Wiercioch filed actions to halt the execution with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which previously denied requests for further DNA testing. The Attorney General’s Office of Texas has not responded to inquiries from the media, while the El Paso District Attorney’s Office, which handled the case, declined to comment due to a conflict of interest dating back to 1993.
One victim’s sister, Jolieen Denise Gonzalez, expressed that the stay of execution was fair, believing that the death penalty was not appropriate for her sister’s murder. She highlighted her doubts about seeing justice served for her sibling.
Jolieen Denise Frausto Gonzalez shared with USA TODAY that she believed David Leonard Wood was involved in planning her sister’s murder, although she did not think he was the one who carried it out. Sitting on her front porch in Central El Paso, Texas, on March 1, 2025, Gonzalez reflected on the loss of her 17-year-old sister, Angelica Frausto, who went missing on September 16, 1987, and was later found deceased on November 3, 1987. Wood, also known as the “Desert Killer,” has been on Texas death row since November 10, 1992, and is set to be executed on March 13, 2025. He was convicted of murdering Angelica and five other women and girls whose remains were discovered in El Paso’s Northeast desert.
Despite the stay of execution, Marcia Fulton, the mother of 15-year-old victim Desiree Wheatley, expressed disappointment but not surprise. Fulton had planned to travel 720 miles from El Paso to Huntsville to witness Wood’s execution on Thursday. She remarked on her persistent quest for justice for her daughter, stating, “I’m waiting for justice for my daughter because I promised her that at her gravesite. Each time this happens, it breaks my heart again, that I can’t follow through. Victims have no justice system. Disappointed yes, but it’s not like I am waiting for him to die.” Marcia Fulton was pictured with photos of her daughter Desiree Wheatley in the living room of her West El Paso residence.
Contributing to this report: Greta Cross, Fernando Cervantes
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: Texas court grants rare stay of execution for David Leonard Wood
