Daniel Lee Corwin
Daniel Lee Corwin (September 13, 1958 – December 7, 1998) was an American serial killer who was sentenced to death and executed for murdering three women.
Daniel Lee Corwin | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 13, 1958 Temple, Texas, U.S. [1] |
| Died | December 7, 1998 (aged 40) Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Executed by lethal injection |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3 |
Span of crimes | February–October 1987 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Texas |
Crimes
In 1975, Corwin abducted a classmate, Brenda Evans, at knife point from their high school parking lot while she was getting into her car. He drove her to a remote location in her own car and raped her. He then dragged her out of the car, knocked her down, slit her throat, and stabbed her in the stomach and heart. As she lay in a dirt pit bleeding, he covered her head with a board and covered with dirt and leaves. She survived, and managed to reach the road where she was eventually seen and saved. Corwin was sentenced to forty years in prison for kidnapping, rape and attempted murder. Corwin was released early after nine years.[2]
In February 1987, he abducted 72-year-old Alice Martin, who was walking to her home in Normangee, Texas. He drove her to a field in Robertson County where he raped, gagged and stabbed her.
In July 1987, he kidnapped 26-year-old Debra Lynn Ewing from her Huntsville workplace and drove her to Montgomery County, where he raped and stabbed her.[3]
On October 31, 1987, he attempted to kidnap 36-year-old Mary Carrell Risinger at a car wash in Huntsville. She resisted and screamed for help, which resulted in Corwin slitting her throat in front of her 3-year-old daughter.[3]
In October 1988, he abducted another woman Wendy Gant, in her own car, raping, beating and stabbing her several times. He slit her throat and left her for dead. Gant was feigning death and after he left she was able to untie her hands and make her way to a road, where she was found by a driver who summoned police and medical aid.
Corwin was tracked down using an artist's sketch from Gant, whose throat was cut so deeply she could not speak to describe the assailant, but described him in writing to the artist and nodded yes or no to the artists questions about the attacker's features. A corrections officer who knew Corwin from prison recognized the sketch when he saw it on the local television news and reported Corwin's name to police. Police subsequently found a fingerprint from Corwin on the driver's side door of Gant's vehicle.
During his trial, Corwin confessed to another rape, that of a 13-year-old girl that took place in 1972 when he was only 13 or 14. The police were notified at the time, but the victim couldn't identify her attacker.
In 1990, he was sentenced to death by a Montgomery Court. Corwin was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit on December 7, 1998.
His case was shown on Forensic Files II. The episode, titled "Portrait of a Serial Killer," originally aired on HLN on March 15, 2020.
References
- "Daniel Lee Corwin | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers". murderpedia.org.
- "Texas executes serial killer Daniel Corwin for 1987 Southeast Texas slayings". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. December 8, 1998. Archived from the original on January 29, 2015.
- "Fight the Death Penalty in USA - Executions in 1998". www.fdp.dk. Retrieved June 24, 2018.