PHOTO: Texas Executes Woman Who Killed Elderly Neighbor

Texas has executed its 500th inmate since executions were resumed in the state in 1976. Kimberly McCarthy, 52, was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday evening in Huntsville, Texas for the 1997 robbery and murder of her elderly neighbor Dorothy Booth.

McCarthy brutally beat the 71-year-old retired college psychology professor with a candelabra and fatally stabbed her with a butcher knife at her Lancaster home, about 15 miles south of Dallas. McCarthy then used the knife to cut off one of Booth’s fingers to remove her wedding ring. Booth let McCarthy into her home when the younger woman asked to borrow a cup of sugar.

DNA tied McCarthy to three other slayings of elderly women in the Texas area. Each victim had been beaten to death. McCarthy blamed the murders on 2 drug dealers who did not exist. The former nursing home therapist was reportedly addicted to crack cocaine at the time of her murder spree.

In March the Dallas district attorney agreed to a stay of execution for McCarthy to consider the fate of proposed legislation that would improve the fairness of the death penalty.

McCarthy’s execution date was moved from April 3 to June 26th. McCarthy was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. CDT Wednesday.