US states of Missouri, Florida execute 2 couple-killers

Two Americans were executed, one in the state of Missouri andthe other in Florida, each for the murder of a couple.William Rousan, 57, who was convicted of killing a farm couple while trying to stealtheir cows, was declared dead by lethal injection shortly after midnight in BonneTerre, Missouri, said Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the state's department of publicsecurity.Rousan was sentenced to death for plotting and carrying out the September 1993murders of Charles Lewis, 67, and his wife Grace, 62. The double murder was notdiscovered until a year later.According to the indictment, Rousan took his son Brent and his brother Robert tothe Lewis farm to steal a herd of cows. When Charles Lewis spotted them, BrentRousan killed him with six shots.Lewis' wife, hearing gunfire, came out of the house and was herself shot to death.Their bodies were found a year later in a shallow grave that had been covered incement, near the home of William Rousan.In September 1994, police were tipped off by Rousan's brother-in-law, who told themhe was involved in the double murder, and by Rousan's sister, who sold the victims'stolen VCR.The son of the murdered couple, Michael Lewis, watched Rousan's death by lethalinjection, but said he drew "no real satisfaction from Mr. Rousan's incarceration orexecution, for neither can replace or restore the moments lost with my parents."On Wednesday evening Robert Hendrix, 47, was put to death by lethal injection inFlorida for murdering his cousin and his cousin's wife.He was declared dead at 6:21 pm (2221 GMT), the Orlando Sentinel reported.It added that as a last meal he ate pork chops, sausage gravy, biscuits, Germanchocolate cake and soda.Hendrix was sentenced to death in the killing of Elmer Scott, with whom he hadpreviously carried out a burglary. Scott had later testified against Hendrix andpleaded guilty. Hendrix also killed Scott's wife.The executions were the 18th and 19th performed in the United States this year.