Texas executes man for woman’s 1994 rape, killing

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Convicted murderer Rodrigo Hernandez was executed by lethal injection Thursday night for the abduction, rape and strangulation of a woman in San Antonio 18 years ago.

When asked by the warden whether he had a statement, Hernandez, 38, said: "I want to tell everybody, I love everybody. Keep your heads up. We are all family, people of God almighty. We're all good. I'm ready."

Hernandez was condemned for the slaying of Susan Verstegen, 38, an employee of Frito-Lay. She was attacked behind a supermarket, and her body was found in a garbage barrel behind a church. The February 1994 slaying went unsolved for eight years until Hernandez, as a requirement for parole from a Michigan prison, had to submit a DNA sample that went into a national database. The DNA linked him to her death.

Advances in DNA technology also tied Hernandez to the 1991 slaying of a 77-year-old homeless woman in Michigan.