John Allen Rubio, 45, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit.
The execution date follows the denial of his appeal in October 2026, setting November 12 for the punishment he first received nearly two decades ago. Rubio was convicted of capital murder in 2003 for killing three young children — Julissa Quesada, 3, John Esteban Rubio, 14 months, and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months — in a case that horrified the state and led to two separate death sentences.
Rubio’s initial 2003 death sentence was overturned by a Texas court in 2007, forcing a retrial. He was found guilty a second time in 2010 and again sentenced to death. The appeals process stretched more than sixteen years before the October 2026 denial cleared the path for this week’s execution.
Angela Camacho, who was Rubio’s girlfriend and the mother of all three children, is serving three consecutive life terms for her role in the killings. Court filings established that only Mary Jane was Rubio’s biological child, though he reportedly treated Julissa and John as his own. The couple had been living on the streets during Camacho’s pregnancy with Mary Jane, and Child Protective Services had previously removed the two older children from their care, placing them temporarily with Camacho’s mother.
The murders unfolded in March 2003 after the family moved into a Texas apartment without running water or electricity. Rubio had earlier suggested killing Julissa and John, a remark Camacho dismissed as a joke. He first attacked Julissa and the infant Mary Jane, stabbing and beheading them with Camacho’s assistance. He then declared that 14-month-old John also had to die.
After the killings, Rubio forced Camacho to have sex with him, according to court documents. His brother discovered the children’s bodies during a visit and called police. Rubio surrendered to officers with a statement that became central to the case against him.
“[J]ust arrest me I know I did something bad but I rather my children be dead than be possessed,” he told police, blaming the killings on the children being possessed by evil spirits.
The triple murder and its gruesome details — the beheadings, the sexual assault that followed, and Rubio’s stated motive — made it one of the most shocking capital cases in Texas in the early 2000s. The state’s highest criminal court found grounds to reverse the first conviction, but the second trial produced the same outcome.
Camacho’s involvement drew a different punishment; her three consecutive life sentences reflect her role in the conspiracy while sparing her the death penalty Rubio received. The disparity in sentences has drawn attention in coverage of the case, though both have remained incarcerated since their respective convictions.
Rubio’s case moved through the appeals system with the delays typical of Texas capital punishment, which has the nation’s busiest death row. The October 2026 denial of his appeal by the courts set in motion the final scheduling that brings him to Huntsville this week.
The children’s brief lives and violent deaths have been recounted in court filings and news coverage for more than twenty years. Julissa was three years old, old enough to have spent time in state protective custody; John was fourteen months; Mary Jane was just two months old when she was killed.
Rubio’s execution will proceed barring last-minute intervention, with the Huntsville Unit prepared to carry out the lethal injection as scheduled.