Roy Lee Ward, the Perry County man convicted of killing a 15-year-old Spencer County girl in 2001, is scheduled to die in a matter of hours.

Ward will receive a lethal injection inside Indiana State Prison before sunrise. The executions usually take place just past midnight Central time inside the sprawling complex at Michigan City. He was found guilty in 2002 of murdering Stacy Payne, a beloved Heritage Hills High School cheerleader and honor roll student .

According to police, Ward showed up at her door on July 11, 2001 while she was home with her younger sister in Dale. He claimed he was looking for a missing dog. He then forced himself inside, cut the phone lines, and attacked Payne with a knife and dumbbell.

Her sister had been napping when Ward arrived. Hiding upstairs, she call

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