25/04/2022
April 24, 1959
Richmond, Virginia
Willis Dameron Boyd (23, pictured) is executed for the murder of Redford Ranson (51) who had replaced Boyd’s position after Boyd was fired
Ranson had been hired to replace Boyd as a night shift service station attendant. On June 19, 1958, Boyd visited the service station where he had previously worked and robbed the store of $90 (about $920 today). He then used an electrical cord from a radio to bind Ranson’s hands and forced him into a car to drive him to a remote location. Once near a wooded area, Boyd pulled Ranson from the car, beat him with a hammer, stabbed him several times in the throat and stomach, and shot him with a rifle.
Ranson’s body was found by three teens about 65 feet (20 meters) from the highway. His skull had been fractured, he had multiple stab wounds including a “deep wound” to his stomach, and had been shot with a .22 caliber rifle. The gunshot entered Ranson’s neck, split his Adam’s apple, traveled down his windpipe and into his right lung, fractured his fifth rib and embedded in the sixth. The bludgeoning wounds, stab wounds, and gunshot wound could have each been fatal on their own.
Within days of the body’s discovery, Boyd and an apparent accomplice — 15-year-old Gordon Gunn — were arrested. The murder had been witnessed by Gunn who was initially charged with murder but later became a material witness against Boyd. Boyd confessed to the crime and absolved Gunn of any guilt, stating the teen had only been inside the car during the murder and had not participated in any capacity.
While Boyd stated his desire to be executed at the time of his arrest, he changed his mind by the time he was taken to trial and entered a plea of not guilty. He claimed to have killed Ranson because he “kept coming at” him. “He was standing up and trying to get hold of me,” Boyd testified. He attempted to force Ranson to kneel, then hit the man with a hammer to force him to the ground. Boyd retrieved the rifle from the car and returned to find Ranson still standing. “When I came back he lunged at me again, and I fired.” When asked if anything had prevented him from running away, Body responded, “Just my way of thinking was messed up.” Boyd also informed the court he “told [the police] things that would make it harder on me” to explain why he had confessed to murdering Ranson rather than killing him in self defense, ostensibly to achieve his goal of being executed.
The jury convicted Boyd of murder after 2 hours and 45 minutes of deliberation. When his death sentence was read, Boyd responded, “That’s what I wanted.” He was executed in the state’s electric chair on April 24, 1959, 10 months after Ranson’s murder. Had Boyd escaped the death penalty for Ranson’s murder, he would have faced a possible death sentence for the s*xual assault of a 12-year-old girl.
Sources:
Hearn, Daniel Allen. Legal Executions in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia: A Comprehensive Registry, 1866–1962. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2015
“Murderer Of Attendant Electrocuted.” Covington [Virginia] Virginian. April 24, 1959. 9:2
Crockford, Hamilton. “Jury Finds Boyd Guilty In Slaying.” Richmond [Virginia] Times-Dispatch. September 13, 1958. 1:2 (image source, via Newspapers.com)
Shires, Carl. “Hearing Due July 11 In Goochland Murder.” The Richmond [Virginia] News Leader. June 25, 1958. 1:6
Solomon, Loyall. “Man Is Found Bound, Stabbed in Goochland.” Richmond [Virginia] Times-Dispatch. June 22, 1958. 1:3
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