Arizona inmate 60-year-old Richard Dale Stokley was executed Wednesday after being convicted of the 1991 murders of two 13-year-old girls in Elfrida located in Cochise County, Arizona.
Stokley and another man raped, strangled and stabbed Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder before dumping their bodies in a partly flooded mine shaft during a July 4th holiday weekend community camp out.
The two young girls had left to go to the restroom but never returned, having left with Richard Dale Stokley, and Randy Brazeal. The two men took the girls to a ghost town where they committed the heinous act. How the young girls met the two older men has never been confirmed.
Richard Dale Stokley, who was 38 when the girls were killed, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. He was also convicted of sexual assault against a minor. His accomplice Randy Brazeal, who was 19 when the girls were killed, was released from prison July 2, 2011, after serving his full 20-year sentence.
At 10am on Wednesday, Stokley was put to death at a prison in Florence, Arizona. The execution team ran into difficulty setting the intravenous lines, so the executioners had to cut into an artery at the top of his groin area to insert the lines. Stokley was pronounced dead at 11:14am
ABC15 reported the execution of Richard Dale Stokley was Arizona’s 34th since 1992. Daniel Cook was put to death on Aug. 8 in Arizona’s most recent execution.
Richard Dale Stokley’s last meal was a porterhouse steak, french fries, okra, cauliflower, salad, fruit and ice cream.
Richard Dale Stokley Image From Arizona Department of Corrections.
