HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KTRK) — Death row inmate Arthur Lee Burton is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday for the capital murder of Nancy Adleman nearly three decades ago.
In July 1997, Adleman never came back from a run along the bayou near West Road and Beltway 8. Her partially clothed body was found in a hole a day later.
Her family and friends described her as a devout Christian and beloved wife and mother of three children. Along the bayou, a large white cross was erected as a memorial to Adleman years ago and still stands today.
By August 1997, Burton was arrested and charged with capital murder.
Then-sheriff, Tommy Thomas, said Burton confessed to attacking Adleman and dragging her into the woods where he attempted to sexually assault her before strangling her with her own shoelace. He also told investigators about her dying words, Thomas said.
“She did have a conversation while this attack was taking place and she told him that she did forgive him and asked if he believed in God,” Thomas told reporters in 1997.
“She would do that. She had a very strong faith,” said Mark Adleman, Nancy’s husband.
There was a capital murder conviction and two death sentences because one was reversed. The latest effort in mid-July called into question the death warrant paperwork. It could have put the execution on hold, but last week, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sided with the State.
“It was ultimately a paperwork violation,” said Josh Reiss, Chief of the Post Conviction Writs Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
A question about whether Burton is intellectually disabled is still before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This is an appropriate circumstance for the death penalty. Any woman who has exercised alone, this is your worst nightmare,” said Reiss.
The victim’s daughter, Sarah Adleman, told her father and brother will attend the execution. In a text, she wrote, “We each have a choice in every moment to create the reality from where we live. May we remember to choose kindness, especially in the face of sorrow. Loss is what connects us to one another.”
District Attorney Kim Ogg will also be in Hunstville Wednesday, according to her office.
If the execution is carried out, Burton will be the third person put to death in Texas in 2024.
