WASHINGTON - The state of Oklahoma on Tuesday executed a man for raping and killing a pregnant woman, following his conviction through genetic evidence 10 years after the crimes, prison authorities said.
Authorities at the McAlester prison gave Frank Welch, 46, a lethal injection and he was declared dead at 6:21 pm (2321 GMT), the state Department of Corrections said.
In February 1987 Welch strangled Jo Talley Cooper with a leather strap and then raped her, leaving her dead on the floor of her living room where her husband found her.
She was 12 weeks pregnant, according to details of the case released by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
The killer had pretended to be visiting as a television technician at the Cooper family's home in Norman, near Oklahoma City. He had been fired from a cable company but still had his uniform.
He was arrested the following year and jailed for other crimes without being linked to the killing. After his release in 1994 he was arrested again for an attack, and DNA tests proved him guilty of the Cooper case as well as another murder some years earlier.
He was the 34th person to be executed this year in the United States, where more than 3,300 people are on death row.
08/22/2007 01:40 GMT