Jeffrey Weisheit was executed by lethal injection on Thursday with no final words, though he did request one last meal.
The 50-year-old Indiana death row inmate, who had been incarcerated since 2013, was pronounced dead roughly 45 minutes after consuming barbecue ribs as his last dish. The Indiana Department of Correction confirmed the timing and the meal details following the early-morning execution at Indiana State Prison.
Weisheit received the death penalty for the arson murders of 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch in Vanderburgh County. He had set fire to his girlfriend Lisa’s house, where the two children were found gagged, tied up, and dead from smoke and soot inhalation. He fled Indiana after the 2010 crime but was arrested shortly afterward in Kentucky and charged with double murder.
His legal team had fought to halt the execution in its final days, filing for a temporary ten-day pause after raising questions about the lethal injection drugs. The attorneys also argued that Weisheit suffered from head injuries and mental health issues that they said should be considered.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita issued a statement following the execution framing it as justice for the victims. “Early this morning, the State of Indiana carried out the lawful sentence of Jeffrey Weisheit, delivering long-awaited justice for Alyssa Lynch and her brother Caleb, two innocent children whose lives were stolen in an act of unspeakable cruelty,” he said.
Rokita continued by thanking his office’s appeals team for their work. “I am grateful to the dedicated attorneys in my office’s appeals team, who invested thousands of hours ensuring the jury’s verdict was upheld and the law was faithfully enforced. I also thank the Indiana Department of Correction for carrying out this solemn duty with utmost professionalism,” he added.
The attorney general struck a firm tone on capital punishment for crimes against children. “This case stands as a clear affirmation that those who commit the most heinous crimes against the most vulnerable will be held fully accountable under Indiana law,” he said.
Rokita also addressed the victims’ relatives directly in his statement. “My thoughts and prayers remain with the families of Alyssa and Caleb. Nothing can ever bring their children back, and the pain of this loss will never fully leave them. Yet, hopefully, with this justice being done, they may find some measure of peace,” he shared.
The Weisheit execution was one of three scheduled across the United States on the same Thursday, with Florida and Alabama also set to carry out death sentences. The triple execution marked only the second time in American history that three inmates were put to death on a single day.
The original arson attack that led to Weisheit’s conviction occurred in 2010, when he deliberately set fire to his girlfriend’s home while the two young children were inside. Investigators found Alyssa and Caleb bound and gagged, having succumbed to smoke and soot inhalation as the blaze consumed the residence. The brutality of the crime and the vulnerability of the victims became central to the prosecution’s case and to subsequent appeals.
Florida was set to execute Melvin Trotter, 67, on the same day for the 1999 murder of a grocery store owner, while Alabama had scheduled its own lethal injection.