Mario Swain (Texas prison photo)
HUNTSVILLE (November 8, 2012)—Convicted killer Mario Swain, 33, whom prosecutors described as a serial killer in training, was executed Thursday evening in Huntsville for the brutal murder of a woman a decade ago in East Texas.
Lola Nixon, 46, of Longview was attacked with a tire iron, stabbed and strangled two days after Christmas in 2002.
Swain led police to the woman's body, which he had dumped in the back seat of an abandoned car in a remote part of Gregg County, about 120 miles east of Dallas.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused last month to review Swain's case and no last-day appeals were filed to try to stop the execution.
Evidence and testimony at his 2003 trial showed Swain had a pattern of attacking women and robbing them, often using a chemical inhalant or stun gun to knock them out.
His execution was the 13th this year in Texas.
