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Texas Executes Juan Rodriguez Chavez, Dallas's "Thrill Killer," Linked to a Dozen Slayings

Paroled after killing a neighbor at 17, Chavez went on a random spree of shootings and robberies in 1995. He was condemned for the murder of Jose Morales at a pay phone.

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Illustration of people holding candles beside a red-brick prison wall and guard tower at dusk in Texas. Not an actual scene from the case.

At his sentencing Juan Rodriguez Chavez still said he was not guilty. On April 22, 2003, in the Texas death chamber at Huntsville, he told the families of his victims he was truly sorry.

Chavez, 34, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m., the 13th prisoner executed in Texas that year. His mother, a brother and a sister watched. "To the media, I would like for you to tell all the victims and their loved ones that I am truly, truly sorry for taking their loved ones' lives," he said. "I am a different person now but that does not change the fact of the bad things I have committed."

He was condemned for the robbery and murder of Jose Morales, 39, who was shot while talking on a pay phone in northwest Dallas on July 3, 1995. A witness said Chavez took Morales's wallet, which held $2, and shot him again before running. Authorities said Morales was one of eight people shot, five of them fatally, in the early hours of that day, and they linked Chavez to about a dozen killings in all. Many of the victims were robbed or carjacked. Prosecutors called him "The Thrill Killer," and one of them, Jason January, said he was one of the few defendants he had seen who "clearly demonstrated he enjoyed killing."

Chavez had killed before. At 17 he killed a neighbor during a burglary and was sentenced to 15 years. Despite more than 40 disciplinary violations in prison, he earned enough good time to be paroled in March 1994, and the spree began about a year later. He was arrested about a month after the Morales killing, when he reported to his parole officer.

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