Serial killer Daniel Siebert dies of pancreatic cancer on Alabama's
Death Row
Daughter of New Jersey victim says justice not served
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
STAN DIEL
News staff writer
Serial killer Daniel Siebert, who was convicted of five Alabama
murders and who confessed to more than a dozen killings nationwide,
died in prison Tuesday. The 53-year-old, who had pancreatic cancer,
had been on Death Row for 21 years.
Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said a formal
investigation will determine the cause of death, but "Siebert died of
apparent natural causes while suffering from terminal cancer." He
died in the medical unit at Holman Correctional Facility near Atmore,
not far from the state's execution chamber.
The family of one of his victims, who had hoped he would be executed
before dying of natural causes, expressed disappointment.
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"He lost his life in a more humane way than any of his victims," said
Beth Guay, the daughter of Beatrice McDougall, whom Siebert confessed
to killing in Atlantic City in 1986.
Siebert had come within a day of being executed on Oct. 24, but was
granted a stay by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
pending the outcome of a Kentucky case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In that case, Kentucky inmates argued that lethal injection was cruel
and unusual punishment, in violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, leading to what amounted to a national moratorium on
the death penalty until the case could be decided. The court upheld
lethal injection in a ruling on the case last week, but the delay was
enough to allow Siebert to die of natural causes.
Siebert also had sued arguing that drugs he was taking for pancreatic
cancer could react poorly with drugs used for lethal injection,
causing him undue pain. The court had not ruled on that suit.
Siebert was convicted of five Alabama murders and has confessed to as
many as 13 killings nationwide. He was sentenced to death for the
Feb. 19, 1986, strangulation killing of his girlfriend, Sherri
Weathers, 24, and her two sons, 5-year-old Chad and 4-year-old Joey.
Weathers was a student at the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind in
Talladega.
Siebert also was sentenced to death for the murder of Linda Jarman, a
resident of Weathers' apartment complex. He pleaded guilty and was
sentenced separately, to life in prison, for killing Linda Faye Odum,
32, also of Talladega.
Police said he strangled to death all five of his Alabama victims
over a period of a few hours. Siebert also pleaded guilty in Nevada
to manslaughter, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Authorities
have said he confessed to a number of other killings - the exact
number is unclear - from California to New Jersey.
Siebert gained another measure of notoriety from behind bars, where
he managed to produce artwork that was sometimes sold on Internet
sites specializing in memorabilia related to serial killers.
Siebert's art for sale on the Web - including a sketch of a man
holding a severed head - helped inspire a bill before the state
legislature that would make it harder for anyone to profit from
artwork produced by inmates. The bill has yet to pass the state
Senate, but is expected to come to a vote later this year. Siebert
also was cited as inspiration for a similar bill expected to come
before Congress within the next year.
Though he confessed, Siebert was not convicted of murdering
McDougall, who was stabbed and strangled on March 8, 1986.
In a prepared statement, Guay and her siblings, Kurt and Dawn Weise,
said they had been frustrated for 22 years as Siebert manipulated the
system and avoided execution.
"We are not vindictive nor do we rejoice today," they said. "We will
just simply move on the best way we can knowing that Daniel Lee
Siebert will never receive the humane execution that he surely was
due."
E-mail: sdiel@bhamnews.com