Slain teen ‘loved life,’ mom says before killer’s execution

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The mother of a teenager who was killed in Mississippi 22 years ago is set to witness the execution of the man who took the girl’s life. Leesa Gray was stranded with a flat tire on a night in June 2000 when Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. pulled the 16-year-old into his van, raped and killed her. Loden is now 58 and is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday. Leesa’s mother, Wanda Farris, and best friend, Lisa Darracott, say they remember her as a happy girl who loved life and quietly stood up for bullying victims. Both say they hope the execution will help bring them some closure.