Texas executes John Allen Rubio for 2003 child killings

Texas executed John Allen Rubio by lethal injection on Thursday at the state prison in Huntsville for the 2003 killings of three children he helped raise. He was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m., 21 minutes after the injection began, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.

Rubio, 46, apologized to his wife’s family in his final statement and said he was ready to be with his children and his Lord and Savior. He also thanked friends and family for their love and understanding and expressed love for his common-law wife, Angela Camacho, who is serving life sentences for her role in the killings.

The children were killed in a Brownsville apartment on March 11, 2003. They were Julissa Angela Quezada, 3; John Esteban Rubio, 14 months; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months. Rubio was not the biological father of the two older children but had helped raise them, according to court records.

Rubio maintained that mental illness led him to believe the children were possessed. Defense experts diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, while prosecution experts disputed the findings. His defense also pointed to violence and other difficulties in his childhood as factors affecting his development.