McALESTER, Oklahoma — Family members of an elderly Oklahoma couple slain in 2003 said the execution of their killer ended a nearly 20-year nightmare.
The state executed Scott Eizember, 62, at 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, for the 2003 murders of Patsy Cantrell, 70, and her husband, A.J. Cantrell, 76, in their Creek County residence.
Debra Cantrell Wyatt, the Cantrells’ daughter, said the family hopes for healing after suffering through her mother’s death and the murder of her sister, Linda, a few days before Eizember’s trial.
“It’s been a journey — a long, painful journey,” she said. “And I don’t believe in closure. I don’t like people use that word to me because the only way we would ever have closure is if they ever came back to us, and we know that’s not going to happen on this earth.”
Court records state Eizember broke into the couple’s home to wait for an ex-girlfriend, and the Cantrells unexpectedly returned home. Eizember beat the man unconscious, then dragged the Cantrells’ bodies and their dog, Candy, into a bathroom, where A.J. Cantrell died. Eizember then shot his ex-girlfriend’s son and beat her mother at a nearby residence before a 37-day manhunt ultimately led to his capture in Texas.
Sean Murphy, with the Associated Press, said officials read the death warrant at 10 a.m. before Eizember gave his final statement from the gurney.
“I told the truth, I cannot convince everyone I told the truth, obviously. The court also said I told the truth. So for those people out there who don’t seem to want to tell the truth, that’s on them. That’s on their head. I’m at peace, my conscious is clear completely. I love my children,” he said.
Eizember’s spiritual adviser, Dr. Rev. Jeff Hood, attended the execution inside the death chamber after the Oklahoma Department of Corrections initially barred him for his previous arrests for protests. They sued over the ban because it violated the death row inmate’s right to express freedom of religion before ODOC Director Steven Harpe reversed the decision Wednesday.
Harpe said Thursday that Hood was allowed in the chamber after he agreed to a code of conduct that barred him from saying or doing anything that would disrupt security of the execution or diminish respect for the witnesses.
“Everyone is and should be entitled to their own opinions on the death penalty,” Harpe said. “It’s a very complex issue. But as something affirmed by a vote of the people and carried out by an order of the court, this agency must do what we can to protect the dignity of the process.”
Media witnesses said an additional security worker in the execution chamber only focused on Hood throughout the process.
“For as much kicking it around as me and the director have had, and some of those officials, he (Harpe) did come and shake my hand and that was kind,” Hood said after the execution.
Murphy said Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond was among 17 seated witnesses, including several dignitaries and five media witnesses.
“It was my solemn duty this morning to be present for the execution of Scott James Eizember, whose terrible crimes shattered a loving family and sentenced them to a lifetime of grief and loss,” Drummond said in a press release. “After nearly 20 years, justice is served. I understand that nothing can ever lessen the pain of a loved one’s death, but I pray that today brings closure and some measure of peace to the Cantrell family.”
Media witnesses said Eizember gave his final statement, then conversed with Hood, mouthed “I love you” to a woman on the other side of the execution chamber glass, and the execution started.
Officials declared Eizember unconscious at 10:07 a.m.; he stopped breathing three minutes later, and he was declared dead at 10:15 a.m.
Justin Wyatt, a grandson of the Cantrells, said he didn’t know about calling the execution “justice” or “closure for the family.”
“But I believe this was the only way to end the nightmare my family has endured all these years,” Wyatt said.