PARCHMAN, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 20-year-old community college student in 1993 was executed Wednesday.

Charles Crawford, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. following a lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.

Crawford had spent more than 30 years on death row. His execution comes several months after the execution of Mississippi’s longest-serving death row inmate in a year of increasing executions nationwide.

Given the chance to make a final statement, Crawford said, “To my family, I love you. I’m at peace. I’ve got God’s peace,” and added, “I’ll be in heaven.”

He also addressed Ray’s family, saying, “To the victim’s family, true closure and true peace, you cannot reach that without God.”

The execut

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