Texas executes 1989 murderer of twin teenage sisters in Houston

Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Former Houston resident Garcia Glen White died by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Huntsville, Texas, for the 1989 murders of twin teenage sisters after killing their mother in 1989.

White's attorneys unsuccessfully tried to spare White from the death penalty by arguing he suffered from mental issues made worse by extensive use of crack cocaine.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied White's legal appeals to remove the death penalty and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene.

The appellate court ruled White's appeals lacked merit and were filed too late to prevent the death sentence imposed 28 years ago after White was found guilty of the deaths of 16-year-old twins Annette and Bernette Edwards.

While addicted to crack, White, 61, visited the apartment of Bonita Edwards and her two daughters a day after they turned 16 and just weeks before the Christmas holiday in 1989.

White argued with Bonita and allegedly stabbed her to death before breaking down a door leading to the twins' room and raping and stabbing them to death.

The crime went unsolved until 1996, when prosecutors connected White to the deaths of a convenience store clerk named Hai Van Pham and a woman, Greta Williams, in separate and unrelated killings.

White was prosecuted for those murders and the murders of Bonita Edwards and her daughters. A jury only found him guilty of murdering the twins.

White formerly was a talented football player who suffered a career-ending injury while playing for a Christian college in Texas and soon after worked several menial jobs until he became addicted to crack.

Several relatives of Pham and Williams were expected to witness White's execution at the Huntsville Unit correctional facility located north of Houston.

Note: Some news outlets spell White's middle name "Glenn," but the Texas Department of Criminal Justice spells it "Glen."