A man prays outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln on Tuesday, Aug. 14, the day of Carey Dean Moore's execution.
A man who wished not to be identified prays while holding rosary beads among a small group of protesters opposed the death penalty outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
Matt Maly, operations manager for Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty stands alone Tuesday morning inside the death penalty protesters pen outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
Nebraska Department of Corrections Director Scott Frakes speaks to the media following the execution of Carey Dean Moore.
Members of the Nebraska State Patrol outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary on Tuesday.
The Rev. Royal D. Carleton, a chaplain with the Inclusive Life Center, pauses among a small group of protesters outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
LINCOLN — Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland died almost 39 years ago in Omaha, each of their lives cut short by three bullets.
On Tuesday, Nebraska executed their killer, Carey Dean Moore. The state used four drugs to carry out its first execution in 21 years and its first by lethal injection.
Moore, 60, had served 38 years on death row for the 1979 killings of Omaha cabdrivers Van Ness and Helgeland.
The two were shot five days apart as Moore targeted cabdrivers because he knew they carried cash. Both men were 47 years old, fathers and military veterans.
Corrections Director Scott Frakes said the first of four execution drugs was administered at 10:24 a.m. The Lancaster County coroner declared Moore dead at 10:47 a.m.
Frakes said the execution was carried out with “professionalism, respect for the process and dignity for all involved.”
The scene outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary, where the execution occurred, was subdued on Tuesday morning amid on-and-off rain. About a dozen death penalty opponents prayed outside the prison; only three capital punishment proponents attended. Many more state troopers and media members stood nearby.
A man who wished not to be identified kneels while praying Tuesday outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
Gov. Pete Ricketts, who helped lead an effort to overturn a 2015 repeal of the death penalty by the Nebraska Legislature, spent the morning in a meeting with state agency officials.
“Today, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services carried out the sentence the court ordered in accordance with the will of the people of Nebraska,” Ricketts said in a prepared statement. “The death penalty remains a critical tool to protect law enforcement, corrections officers and public safety.”
Outside the governor’s mansion in Lincoln just after the execution, a handful of protesters stood in the rain, one carrying a sign reading: “Ricketts has blood on his hands.”
Among the death penalty supporters who came to the prison were Vivian Tuttle, whose daughter was slain inside a Norfolk bank in 2002. “I’m here to support the victims,” Tuttle said. “That’s the ones I have to stand for.”
Standing with her was Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt, who, along with Tuttle, collected hundreds of signatures in support of restoring the death penalty in 2016.
Tuttle’s daughter, Evonne Tuttle, was one of five people killed in a bank robbery in Norfolk on Sept. 26, 2002. Evonne Tuttle, a single mother, went to the bank in Norfolk to cash a $64 check.
Three gunmen from the robbery — Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela — all are on death row.
“I think it’s important that we have voices that still say it’s important that we stand for the death penalty. And for the families of victims,” Tuttle said.
Anthony Garcia
ANTHONY GARCIA
Crime: 2008 murders of 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman, and 2013 murders of 65-year-old Dr. Roger Brumback and 65-year-old Mary Brumback.
John L. Lotter
JOHN L. LOTTER
Crime: 1993 murders of Teena Brandon, 21, Lisa Lambert, 24, and Phillip DeVine, 22, in a farmhouse near Humboldt; the story of the transgender Brandon was fictionalized in the film “Boys Don’t Cry.”
Raymond Mata Jr.
RAYMOND MATA JR.
Crime: Killing and dismembering 3-year-old Adam Gomez of Scottsbluff in 1999 and feeding some of his remains to a dog.
Arthur L. Gales
ARTHUR L. GALES
Crime: raping and strangling 13-year-old Latara Chandler and drowning her 7-year-old brother, Tramar, in Omaha in 2000.
Jose Sandoval
JOSE SANDOVAL
Crime: his role in the slayings of five people during a 2002 bank robbery attempt in Norfolk; he shot and killed bank employees Jo Mausbach and Samuel Sun and customer Evonne Tuttle.
Jorge Galindo
JORGE GALINDO
Crime: the Norfolk bank robbery; he shot and killed Lola Elwood, a bank employee.
Erick F. Vela
ERICK F. VELA
Crime: the Norfolk bank robbery; he shot and killed Lisa Bryant, a bank employee.
Jeffrey Hessler
JEFFREY HESSLER
Crime: kidnapping, raping and murdering Heather Guerrero, a 15-year-old Gering newspaper carrier, in 2003.
Roy L. Ellis
ROY L. ELLIS
Crime: the 2005 abduction and bludgeoning death of 12-year-old Amber Harris of Omaha.
Marco E. Torres Jr.
MARCO E. TORRES JR.
Crime: the 2007 execution-style shooting deaths of two Grand Island men, Timothy Donohue and Edward Hall.
Nikko Jenkins
NIKKO JENKINS
Crime: four murders during a 2013 killing spree in Omaha.
Patrick Schroeder
Patrick Schroeder
Crime: the 2017 strangling death of his cellmate, Terry Berry, a 22-year-old inmate who was about to be released from the Tecumseh State Prison.
Moore — who had served the longest time on Nebraska’s death row — was led to the execution chamber at 10 a.m. After he was strapped to the execution table, he mouthed the words “I love you” multiple times toward his official witnesses, including a brother and a niece.
His final words were delivered in a handwritten statement: He hoped that lawyers could get his younger brother, Donald, released from parole, and he urged death penalty opponents to pursue claims of innocence by four others on Nebraska’s death row.
Moore also expressed regret in the letter that he hadn’t led the younger brother “in the right way ... instead of bringing him down.” Donald Moore, then 14, came along when Carey, 21 at the time, said he was going to rob a cabbie 39 years ago.
Carey Dean Moore's final statement
“I am terribly sorry. Please forgive me Don, somehow,” Moore wrote.
Steve Helgeland, the youngest son of slain cabdriver Maynard Helgeland, said he was bothered that Moore expressed no remorse for the murders in his final statement.
“I was a little frustrated and angry that he couldn’t even apologize,” he said.
Although not in his final statement, Moore did express sorrow for killing Helgeland and Van Ness in a message shared by his minister at a Tuesday evening rally. Pastor Bob Bryan, a Lutheran minister, said the message had been written in July.
“I marvel at how God is able to work in hearts that has been forced to grapel [sic] with pain and anger, all because of what one man (me) had done — murdering two men. I am so sorry for what I had done to these families, even more than anyone can imagine,” Moore wrote.
“I am thankful for God’s forgiveness for my actions and my sins, and I pray these families will forgive me somehow; it is easy to cause hurt but it takes great strength to forgive,” he continued.
Steve Helgeland and his brother, Kenny, traveled from their homes in South Dakota to be inside the penitentiary when the execution took place, although neither man wanted to witness it.
“We were there just to honor Mr. Van Ness and our father,” Steve Helgeland said.
Photos: Scenes from around Carey Dean Moore's execution at Nebraska State Penitentiary
Scenes from in and around the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 where Carey Dean Moore was the first person in Nebraska to be executed by lethal injection. Carey Dean Moore, 60, has served for 38 years on death row for the 1979 killings of Omaha cabdrivers Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland.
A man prays outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln on Tuesday, Aug. 14, the day of Carey Dean Moore's execution.
Correctional officers gather outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln on Tuesday ahead of the execution of Carey Dean Moore.
A man who chose not to be identified prays in the grass outside the pen designated for death penalty opponents at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Catherine Baker-Coleman, right, of Omaha, and Chaplain Cei Loofe, left, with Inclusive Life Center comfort one another outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
The Rev. Royal D. Carleton a chaplain with the Inclusive Life Center, prays among a small group of protesters Tuesday outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
The scene outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Nebraska hours before Carey Dean Moore was executed on Tuesday.
Matthew Rehwaldt, of Omaha, makes a sign that reads "not in my name" outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
A man from Lincoln who wished not to be identified was among a small group of protesters opposing the death penalty outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
The scene outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Nebraska hours before Carey Dean Moore was executed.
Catherine Baker-Coleman of Omaha and Chaplain Cei Loofe with Inclusive Life Center comfort one another outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Members of the Nebraska State Patrol outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary on Tuesday.
A man who wished not to be identified prays while holding rosary beads among a small group of protesters opposed the death penalty outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
Diane Rayes, of Lincoln, was among a small group of protesters outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary on Tuesday.
Matt Maly of Bruno, Nebraska, with Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty was for a while the only death penalty opponent outside the state prison in Lincoln.
Matt Maly of Bruno, Nebraska, with Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty was for a while the only death penalty opponent outside the state prison in Lincoln.
Chaplain Cei Loofe with the Inclusive Life Center holds a sign outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
A man who wished not to be identified kneels while praying outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
A man who wished not to be identified kneels while praying Tuesday outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
The Rev. Royal D. Carleton, a chaplain with the Inclusive Life Center, pauses among a small group of protesters outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
The pen set up for death penalty proponents stands empty except for law enforcement and media personnel outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Death penalty opponents and media stand outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
Matt Maly, operations manager for Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty stands alone in the pen set up for those opposed to the death penalty outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Television cameras film death penalty opponents outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Rain poured as the execution time arrived outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
The pen set up for death penalty proponents stood empty except for law enforcement and media personnel outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
With the time for execution approaching, a gray sky loomed outside the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
A crowd gathers outside the Nebraska State Capitol Tuesday evening to mourn the death of Carey Dean Moore.
Christy Hargesheimer, a state death penalty abolition coordinator with Amnesty International, speaks at a gathering of death penalty opponents at the State Capitol in Lincoln Tuesday evening. She holds a cross created by Marylyn Felion, who was a spiritual adviser to the last Nebraska inmate to be executed, Robert E. Williams, in 1997.
A crowd gathers outside the Nebraska State Capitol following the execution of Carey Dean Moore.
Death penalty opponents gather outside the Nebraska State Capitol on Tuesday evening following the execution of Carey Dean Moore.
Nebraska State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, center, descends the front steps of the State Capitol to share her sadness and call to action following the execution of Carey Dean Moore on Tuesday.
The Rev. Andy Alexander speaks to a crowd gathered outside the Nebraska State Capitol on Tuesday.
Juanita Rice listens as Bob Ryan, spiritual adviser to Carey Dean Moore, speaks at a gathering at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln after Moore's execution.
Mike McMahon clutches his address to an anti-death penalty crowd gathered outside the Nebraska State Capitol on Tuesday.
Alex M. Houchin holds back tears as speakers talk about the death penalty Tuesday at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln following the execution of Carey Dean Moore.
The four official news media witnesses to the execution said that Moore’s face gradually turned slightly red, then purple, as the four drugs were administered. The execution was the first using the four drugs obtained by Nebraska, over legal objections by death penalty opponents and some drug manufacturers.
The curtain to the execution chamber was lowered at 10:39 a.m. after the fourth drug was administered. The curtains reopened 14 minutes later after Moore was pronounced dead.
World-Herald staff writer Joe Duggan, one of the media witnesses, said that Moore appeared slightly shaken when the death warrant was read to him before the execution.
Duggan called the execution “a monumental day” after the many debates in the state over capital punishment. The death penalty was restored by voters in 2016 by a 61-39 percent margin after a petition drive, in large part funded by Ricketts, placed the issue on the ballot.
In a statement, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said, “Our sympathy is extended to the families of Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland for the loss of their loved ones nearly 39 years ago. Today’s somber event serves to provide a measure of closure for what has been a lengthy enactment of justice.”
Nebraska has now carried out 38 state-sanctioned executions. Moore was put to death using a previously untried four-drug combination of diazepam, fentanyl, cisatracurium and potassium chloride.
He is the first inmate executed using the drug fentanyl, a powerful narcotic painkiller that has contributed to the nation’s epidemic of drug overdoses. He was put to death despite two federal lawsuits filed last week by drug companies seeking to keep their products from being used.
The state’s last execution before Tuesday took place in 1997, when the electric chair was the method. Lethal injection was adopted in 2009 after the State Supreme Court outlawed electrocution as cruel and unusual punishment.
The 23 men Nebraska has put to death
Twenty-three people have been put to death by the state of Nebraska since the state took over the task from individual counties in 1903. The World-Herald has reported on every execution. A look at that coverage:
Gottlieb Niegenfind, hanged on March 13, 1903, for the murder of Anna Bryer and Albert Bryer, his ex-wife and her father. Read original coverage of the execution.
William Rhea, hanged on July 10, 1903, for the murder of saloon keeper Herman Zahn. His last words were to the hangman: "Don't draw it quite so tight." Read original coverage of the execution.
Harrison Clark, hanged Dec. 13, 1907, for the murder of streetcar conductor Ed Flury during a robbery. Read original coverage of the execution.
Frank Barker, hanged Jan. 17, 1908, for the murder of Daniel and Alice Barker, his brother and his brother's wife. Just before he was executed, he made a final appeal to Gov. George Sheldon, who visited him in his cell. Sheldon declined to delay his death. Read original coverage of the execution.
Robert Shumway, hanged March 5, 1909, for the murder of Sarah Martin. Shumway was a hired hand at the Martin farm and killed Martin during a robbery of the farmhouse. Read original coverage of the execution.
Bert Taylor, hanged Oct. 28, 1910, for the murder of his sister-in-law Pearl Taylor. Read original coverage of the execution.
Thomas Johnson, hanged May 19, 1911, for the murder of Henry Frankland during a robbery. Read original coverage of the execution.
Albert Prince, hanged March 21, 1913, for the murder of prison warden Edward Davis. Read original coverage of the execution.
Alson Cole and Allen Grammer, sent to the electric chair on Dec. 20, 1920, for the murder of Grammer's mother-in-law, Lulu Vogt. The two were the first to die by electric chair in the state. Read original coverage of the execution.
James King, sent to the electric chair on June 9, 1922, for the murder of prison guard Robert Taylor. Read original coverage of the execution.
Walter Simmons, sent to the electric chair Aug. 11, 1925 for the murder of Spencer garage owner Frank Pahl. Read original coverage of the execution.
Henry Bartlett, sent to the electric chair April 29, 1927, for the murder of Minden Police Chief Asa Ranson after the robbery of a hardware store. Read original coverage of the execution.
Frank Carter, known as the Omaha Sniper, was sent to the electric chair June 24, 1927, for the murder of William McDevitt and A.D. Searles. As he was being strapped into the chair, he quipped to The World-Herald, "I'm in a pretty tight place here." Read original coverage of the execution.
Frank Sharp, sent to the electric chair on Oct. 19, 1928, for the murder of his wife, Hariet Sharp. Read original coverage of his execution.
Henry Sherman, sent to the electric chair May 31, 1929, for the murder of Roger, Hattie and Eugenie Pochon. Read original coverage of the execution.
Joseph MacAvoy, sent to the electric chair March 23, 1945, for the rape and murder of Anna Milroy. Read original coverage of the execution.
Timothy Iron Bear, sent to the electric chair Dec. 1, 1948, for the ax murders of ranchers John and Grace Stollar. Read original coverage of the execution.
Roland Sundahl, sent to the electric chair April 30, 1952, for the abduction and murder of waitress Bonnie Lou Merrill. Read original coverage of the execution.
Charles Starkweather, sent to the electric chair June 25, 1959, for the murder of Robert Jensen. Starkweather also murdered 10 others. Read original coverage of the execution.
Harold Otey, sent to the electric chair on Sept. 2, 1994, for the rape and murder of Jane McManus. Read original coverage of the execution.
John Joubert, sent to the electric chair for the murders of three boys in Maine and Nebraska. Read original coverage of the execution.
Robert Williams, sent to the electric chair on Dec. 2, 1997, for two murders and a series of Lincoln rapes. Read original coverage of the execution.
Carey Dean Moore was executed on Aug. 14, 2018, the state's first execution in 21 years and its first by lethal injection. Moore was sentenced to death for the murders of Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland. Moore, 60, had served 38 years on death row for the 1979 killings of the Omaha cabdrivers who were shot five days apart. Read more
Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, released a statement saying the 38-year journey to Moore’s execution proves that the death penalty “is a broken process from start to finish and should be abolished nationwide.”
Conrad criticized Ricketts, saying that he “carried out a lethal injection shrouded in secrecy” and that the execution did not fit with Nebraska’s tradition of open government.
About 175 people gathered on the steps of the State Capitol Tuesday evening for a rally organized by Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Speakers included State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln and several clergy members.
Matt Maly, operations coordinator for the group, said the opponents will continue working against the death penalty and wanted to take their message to state decision-makers, rather than focus it on the prison.
“This isn’t about Mr. Moore,” he said. “This is about the death penalty.”
Death penalty opponents gather outside the Nebraska State Capitol on Tuesday evening following the execution of Carey Dean Moore.
Said Pansing Brooks in a statement: “Until we can stop our bloodthirsty quest for vengeance and replace that reprehensible priority with a higher level of vision and understanding of who we can become as a collective, our souls are as doomed and guilty as the condemned and executed. Please pray for Nebraska as a whole.”
With Moore’s death, there are now 11 men on Nebraska’s death row.
In July, the State Supreme Court set what turned out to be the eighth and final execution date for Moore. His previous scheduled executions all were stayed for a variety of legal reasons.
No such stay came Tuesday. Moore didn’t want one, telling family, friends and reporters that he was tired of living so long on death row. A born-again Christian, Moore had said he sought and believed that he had received God’s forgiveness for his crimes.
Prison staff moved Moore from death row at the Tecumseh prison to the penitentiary on Friday night, and he was afforded extended visiting hours with family and friends, a prison spokeswoman said. On Monday night, they shared a meal of pizza from Pizza Hut, along with strawberry cheesecake and Pepsi.
David Moore of Lincoln, the condemned inmate’s twin brother, said Moore will be cremated and a private service held Saturday. David Moore, along with his daughter, Taylor Moore, were among the inmate’s four witnesses on Tuesday.
David Moore said his brother had long wanted to have his death sentence carried out. Although he said he loved his brother dearly, he wanted what his brother wanted.
“The only fear he expressed was that he would be lying on the table waiting to be injected and all of a sudden the governor calls and says there’s going to be a stay,” David Moore said.
Taylor Moore, 21, said she wanted to be there so her uncle would see people who loved him as he died. They arrived at the prison at 4:30 a.m. and spent about 3½ hours with him before preparations for the execution began.
She did not excuse her uncle for his horrible crimes, but she said he long ago changed. The Carey Dean Moore she knew was kind, funny and loving.
She commended the corrections staff for treating them all respectfully during the process. And she said her uncle had expressed remorse repeatedly to her and other family members for taking the lives of Van Ness and Helgeland.
Neither witness saw any signs indicating that Moore experienced pain or difficulty during the execution.
“I was happy knowing that he was finally happy and at peace,” Taylor Moore said. “I cried, but I wasn’t like mad that it was happening. I was relieved.”
World-Herald staff writer Jeffrey Robb contributed to this report.
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Carey Dean Moore
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Emily Nitcher
Emily covers K-12 education, including Omaha Public Schools. Previously, Emily covered local government and the Nebraska Legislature for The World-Herald. Follow her on Twitter @emily_nitcher. Phone: 402-444-1192.
Paul Hammel
Reporter - Regional/state issues
Paul covers state government and affiliated issues. He specializes in tax and transportation issues, following the governor and the state prison system. Follow him on Twitter @PaulHammelOWH. Phone: 402-473-9584.
Martha Stoddard
Martha Stoddard keeps legislators honest from The World-Herald's Lincoln bureau, where she covers news from the State Capitol. Follow her on Twitter @StoddardOWH. Phone: 402-473-9583.
Jeffrey Robb
Jeff Robb dives into data for The World-Herald. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyrobb. Phone: 402-444-1128.
