Wife-killer goes to death in silence

An Oklahoma man sentenced to be executed for killing his wife for $950,000 in insurance proceeds went to his death in silence Thursday, witnesses said. Timothy Shaun Stemple, 46, of Tulsa died just after 6 p.m. in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, the McAlester News-Capital reported. He shook his head when Warden Randy Workman asked him if he had any final statement. Trisha Stemple's body was found along a road in 1996. Stemple and Terry Hunt, a 15-year-old cousin of his girlfriend, were convicted of beating her with a baseball bat and running her over with a truck. Hunt, who testified against Stemple and is serving a life term, said he was offered as much as $50,000 if Stemple collected his wife's insurance. Four police officers involved in the investigation attended the execution, taking advantage of a new Oklahoma law, KOKI-TV, Tulsa, reported. "It was clean, sterile, quick, exactly what it wasn't for Trisha Stemple," retired Tulsa Detective Mike Huff said afterward. Several members of Trisha Stemple's family watched her husband die. "Today is not about Shaun," a sister, Deborah Ruddick-Bird, said. "Today is about justice and finality and closure for my gorgeous sister Trisha and my family." Shaun Stemple's parents, two sisters and 21-year-old daughter were present but made no comment.