Roy Ward is scheduled to be executed by the State of Indiana for the sexual assault and murder of fifteen year old Stacey Payne
According to court documents Roy Ward would force his way into a home where he would attack fifteen year old Stacey Payne. The teen would be sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. The victims younger sister would call 911
Roy Ward was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
The State of Indiana plans to executed Roy Ward by lethal injection shortly after midnight on October 10 2025
Roy Ward Execution News
The execution for convicted killer Roy Lee Ward is set for this Friday.
Ward is scheduled to be put to death sometime after midnight and before sunrise.
Ward was sentenced to death for the July 2001 rape and murder of Spencer County teen, 15-year-old Stacy Payne.
A parole board held a clemency hearing for Ward on September 22 and recommended the execution to proceed, citing the brutal nature of the crime. Indiana Governor Mike Braun announced he would follow the recommendation.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/execution-roy-lee-ward-set-105519878.html
Roy Ward More Execution News
For the third time in less than a year, Indiana officials will execute a convicted murderer.
This time it will be Roy Lee Ward, the Spencer County man who killed 15-year-old Heritage Hills High School student Stacy Payne on July 11, 2001.
Ward brutally murdered Payne in her Dale, Indiana home after knocking on her door and pretending he was looking for a lost dog. His attorneys spent the next two decades angling for new trials and appeals until his execution was finally set for Oct. 10.
Here’s what to know.
When will Roy Lee Ward’s execution take place?
It’s set for the early-morning hours of Friday, Oct. 10. The executions of Joseph Corcoran on Dec. 18 and Benjamin Ritchie on May 20 took place just after midnight.
Where will it be?
Like all Indiana state executions, it will take place at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
When will Roy Lee Ward’s execution take place?
It’s set for the early-morning hours of Friday, Oct. 10. The executions of Joseph Corcoran on Dec. 18 and Benjamin Ritchie on May 20 took place just after midnight.
Where will it be?
Like all Indiana state executions, it will take place at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
Who will witness the execution?
Indiana law specifically lays out who can be present, either via a viewing area or in the room of the execution itself.
Per Indiana code 35-38-6-6, the people there will include:
Indiana State Prison's warden
The prison doctor
The prison chaplain
Anyone deemed necessary to carry out or assist in the execution
"No more than five" relatives or friends of Ward
No more than eight relatives of Payne's, including parents, grandparents and siblings
Other family members of Payne's who don't fit the above definitions that can be accommodatedJoanna Green, one of the attorneys in Indiana’s Public Defenders Office who has been representing Ward in his latest string of appeals, said via email last week that she wasn’t sure who from Ward’s side would be on hand.
Will media be able to watch the lethal injection?
No. Indiana is one of just two death-penalty states that doesn’t allow reporters to observe executions. The Indiana General Assembly voted to change state law since Wrinkles’ execution in 2009, when media members were allowed to watch the lethal injection unfold.
A Courier & Press reporter will be present early Friday morning, but will be relegated to a parking lot across from the prison’s main entrance.
Who was Stacy Payne?
Payne was a cheerleader and honor roll student who played in the high school band and served on student council.
In her off hours she worked at Jenks Pizza in Dale and was a member of the youth group at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Family called her caring, confident and loving.
“She was determined to always do her personal best,” her mother, Julia, said during Ward’s first sentencing hearing in December 2002. “She had so much potential.”
