LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The state of Indiana is scheduled to execute Roy Lee Ward next week.
The state clemency board rejected his appeal and all legal avenues have been exhausted. Ward was convicted of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Dale, Indiana girl in July 2001.
Stacy Payne's father still lives in the home where his daughter was killed. It's about 10 miles north of Santa Claus, Indiana, nestled between corn fields.Â
He was at the house on Thursday, and he agreed to talk but asked that the house not be shown. He said the past two decades of people coming to the house or driving by has taken a toll.
Warning: Graphic details of Stacy's murder
Stacy was home with her sister Melissa when Ward knocked on the door and told a tale that he was looking for his lost dog. He forced his way in and attacked her. It was her sister who heard her screams and called 911.
Two weeks ago, Ward's lawyer made a plea for clemency. During the hearing, a lawyer for the state described Ward action's the day of the murder and recounted the grizzly details that are hard to hear.
"When Ward knocked, Stacy answered and listened to Ward fain to be looking for a lost dog, and he forced his way inside the house, tied her up, bludgeoned her with a dumbbell causing 18 blunt force injuries, and raped her," the lawyer said.
"While he raped her, he cut her throat to the point where her windpipe, trachea and larynx were severed at the level of her vocal cords, leaving her barely able to breathe and unable to talk. But this was not all. He disemboweled her around her waist."
Roy Lee Ward. 2025 mugshot of Indiana Department of Corrections Inmate 914976.
The horror of the description of Payne's murder didn't end there.
"Ward incised her abdomen with a 24 1/2 inch circumferential wound that essentially cuts Stacy in half, except for her spinal cord. One medical professional who later examined her found cutting indications on her spinal cord."
Matt Keller was a police officer in Dale in 2001. He testified at Ward's clemency hearing.Â
"The dispatcher informed me they could hear a girl screaming in the background and believe that something bad was happening there," Keller said.Â
Payne died five hours later at a hospital in Louisville.
Roy Lee Ward's conviction
Ward was convicted of the murder twice- once in 2002 and again in 2007 after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the original conviction. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to rape and murder.Â
The clemency board rejected his appeal in August, and Indiana Governor Mike Braun said he will not stop the scheduled execution before dawn on Friday, Oct. 10, at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
The town of Dale is small and most everyone remembers Stacy Payne and her family.
Carolyn Black still lives there. "It was horrible. Everybody was upset over it. Everyone was just sick to their stomach over it. It's is sad."Â
Payne's father declined an invitation to speak on camera about his daughter or the man who will die for the crime. The look in his eyes you can tell the past 24 years have been tough He said he would not attend Ward's execution, but he hopes it will seal a painful chapter in his life.Â
Ward will be the third person to be executed since Gov. Braun took office. Last year, Indiana executed Joseph Corcoran for a quadruple murder 15 years ago.
There have been questions about what chemical will be used to carry out Ward's sentence. The Indiana Department of Corrections said pentobarbital was considered unusable in July.Â
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