A man who committed the heinous crimes of sexually assaulting his three-month-old son and then murdering him, appeared to turn to religion before his execution.
Travis Mullis, a notorious baby killer, uttered his eerie final words after spending 16 years on death row. He was executed on Tuesday evening (September 24).
The 38-year-old was put to death via lethal injection at Huntsville Unit, the facility that contains Texas’s execution chamber, noted for being the most active in the nation.
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1992, there have been 590 executions in Texas.
The disturbing events began in January 2008, following an altercation with his girlfriend. The then-21-year-old Mullis drove his son, Alijah, from Brazoria County to Galveston County, areas near Houston.
While in Galveston County, which is on the Gulf of Mexico coast, Mullis assaulted Alijah and then murdered him by strangling and stomping on his head after exiting the car, as confirmed by officials.
After discarding his son’s body on the roadside, Mullis fled to Pennsylvania, where he was subsequently apprehended by Philadelphia police.
Before his execution, Mullis delivered a chilling final statement, having waived his right to appeal his death sentence.
He expressed gratitude to prison guards and officials for implementing changes that allowed “the men on death row to show it is possible to be rehabilitated and not deemed a threat and not the men we were when we came into this system.”
“I’d like to thank everyone … that accepted me for the man I became during my best and worst moments,” Mullis stated.
His spiritual advisor prayed for him while he was strapped to the gurney.
Mullis further mentioned that he “took the legal steps to expedite to include assisted suicide.”
“I don’t regret this decision, to legally expedite this process,” he added. “I do regret the decision to take the life of my son.”
During his trial, prosecutors branded Mullis a “monster” who had a tendency to manipulate people.
In his final moments, he apologized to Alijah’s mother for taking their son away and to her family as well.
Mullis was among five individuals on death row scheduled for execution this week, including Marcellus Williams. Unlike Mullis, Williams was “likely” not the person who killed Felicia Gayle in 1999.
Despite a joint brief from county prosecutors and Williams’ defense attorney, Williams was executed on Tuesday (September 24).