Texas man convicted in beheading of 3 children is put to death, hours
after an Oklahoma execution
[November 13, 2026]
By MICHAEL GRACZYK and JAMIE STENGLE
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing and
beheading three young children in a squalid, windowless apartment in
2003 was executed Thursday evening, hours after Oklahoma put another man
to death.
John Allen Rubio, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. after a lethal
injection at the state prison in Huntsville. The killings of the baby
girl and two toddlers so rocked the city of Brownsville on the U.S.
border with Mexico that the apartment building was later demolished and
the land turned into a park and community garden.
After a spiritual adviser prayed over him briefly, Rubio thanked friends
and family for their “love and understanding” and said he was “not the
same person I once was.” He thanked prison staff for teaching him how to
find God and also expressed love for his common-law wife, Angela
Camacho, who is serving life in prison for her role in the slayings.
“I want to say I’m sorry to my wife’s family,” he said. “I can’t change
the past but I can tell you my life is going to be over. But that’s not
going to make you happy."
“I’m going to be with my kids in a little bit,” he added. “I’m ready to
go to heaven to be with my lord and savior.”
As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began taking effect,
Rubio took three breaths and began what sounded like snoring. All
movement ceased afterward, and a physician pronounced him dead 21
minutes after the injection began.
Earlier Thursday, James Pavatt, 73, received a lethal injection at an
Oklahoma prison for the fatal shooting of his girlfriend’s estranged
husband in 2001. The victim was killed as he arrived to pick up his two
young children before Thanksgiving.
Thursday’s executions were the 36th and 37th this year, with the U.S. on
track to surpass 40 executions for a second consecutive year — a pace
driven by Florida.
The death penalty has drawn renewed attention since the failed execution
of Christa Pike in Tennessee in September. And last week, California
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would commute hundreds of death sentences
before leaving office in January — what experts say would be the largest
mass clemency in American history.
Texas victims included a 2-month-old girl
Rubio and Camacho were accused of killing 3-year-old Julissa Quesada,
14-month-old John E. Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio in the
apartment they shared in Brownsville. Camacho drew a life sentence after
pleading guilty.
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An appeals court overturned Rubio’s first capital murder conviction,
ruling Camacho's statements were improperly admitted as evidence in
his trial. At his second trial, Rubio again pleaded not guilty by
reason of insanity but again was convicted and sentenced to death.
According to court records, Rubio wasn’t the biological father of
the two older children but treated them as his own.
At various points, Rubio claimed the children were possessed and
that he was the “chosen one” intended to save the world.
Defense experts diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, a finding
prosecution experts rejected. The defense experts also testified his
childhood — marked by violence at home, “toxic” parents, drug use
and prostitution — damaged him developmentally.
Oklahoma advertising executive killed in garage
When the Oklahoma inmate Pavatt was asked if he had any last words
before his execution, he shook his head no. As a chaplain read from
the Bible, Pavatt appeared to mouth some words that couldn't be
heard.
Pavatt was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit
murder in the killing of Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old advertising
executive. Pavatt attended the same church as the Andrew family and
had been having an affair with Rob Andrew’s wife, Brenda Andrew. She
was convicted at a separate trial and is the only woman currently on
Oklahoma's death row.
Weeks before the shooting, Rob Andrew told police someone was trying
to kill him after the brake lines on his car were cut. Brenda Andrew
told police after her husband was killed that masked intruders shot
her in the arm and fatally shot him.
Pavatt and Brenda Andrew fled to Mexico with her two children after
the shooting and were arrested three months later while reentering
the U.S.
Also Thursday, former Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip
pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of being an accessory in a 1997
murder and awaits sentencing in December. Glossip, who had been on
the brink of execution three times, was released on bond in May
after nearly 30 years in prison. He had been awaiting a retrial
after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
____
Stengle reported from McAlester, Oklahoma.
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