Inmate executed for killing teenager in 1987

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- The second execution in less than six weeks at the Indiana State Prison ended more than 16 years on death row for an inmate convicted of raping and killing a Terre Haute teenager.\nPrison officials reported that Bill Benefiel Jr., 48, died by injection at 12:35 a.m. Thursday. He was convicted of holding 18-year-old Delores Wells captive for 12 days before killing her on Feb. 17, 1987.\nWells' mother, Margaret Hagan, said she felt relief at Benefiel's execution.\n"I don't have to focus on him every day and wonder if someday he'll get out," she said. "I won't dwell on him any more like I used to."\nHagan said she was haunted by the memories of what Benefiel did to her daughter. He held Wells captive for 12 days, raping her repeatedly. He then glued Wells' eyes and nostrils shut and stuffed toilet paper in her mouth and taped it shut before taking her into the woods, where he killed and buried her outside Terre Haute.\nHe also held Alicia Elmore, then of Terre Haute, captive for four months in the same house and raped her more than 60 times. She survived and testified against him.\nBenefiel spent a quiet day Wednesday watching television and his only visitor was his attorney, prison officials said.\nWhen asked whether he had any last statement, Benefiel said: "Let's get this over with. Let's do it."\nHagan was at the prison with her son, two daughters and a stepdaughter. Elmore's mother also was there, although her daughter, who now lives out of state, did not attend.\nHagan said all the family members were upset by the two dozen anti-death penalty protesters outside the prison, particularly by the banging of drums they could still hear while inside the prison.\n"Until they've walked in our shoes and lost a family member, stay home and mind your own business, because they had no business here tonight," she said.\nThe demonstration started with a candlelight vigil with people speaking against the death penalty, then they marched carrying signs in front of the prison for about half an hour. Protesters said Benefiel should not have been executed because he suffered from mental illness.\nThe U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request for a stay of execution filed by Benefiel's attorneys. Gov. Mitch Daniels did not grant a clemency request that was made against Benefiel's wishes.\nBenefiel was the second person to be executed by the state of Indiana this year. Donald Ray Wallace was put to death March 10 for killing a family of four from Evansville in 1980. Benefiel is the 13th person executed by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977.\nNow that the execution is over, Hagan said she will now try to put Benefiel in her past.\n"Keep the good memories, try to get rid of the bad," she said.