Frances Elaine Newton

Born on the 12th April 1965, Frances Elaine McLemore Newton was a married mother of three who lived in Harris County, Texas.

Recently separated, Newton was convicted of killing her husband and children with a .25 caliber pistol. She maintained her innocence from the moment of her arrest in 1987 until her execution in 2005. However, three weeks before the killings, Newton had bought life insurance policies on her husband, her daughter, and herself which were each worth $50,000. On these she named herself as beneficiary on her husband’s and daughter’s policies, claiming she forged her husband’s signature to prevent him from discovering that money had been set aside to pay the premiums. Newton was also found to have placed a paper bag containing the murder weapon in a relative’s home shortly after the murders.

Frances Newton was executed by lethal injection on the 14th September 2005, at Huntsville, Texas.