William Paul Thompson

Thompson was born in 1937, though it is unknown where. He reportedly spent 28 years of his life in various reform schools and prisons for different charges, including breaking and entering, counterfeiting, forgery and murder.

From 1983 to 1984, Thompson allegedly committed up to six murders, only three of which have been verified:

• The double murder of two brothers at a campsite in Auburn, California. He claimed that the reason was that they were drug informers.
• In April 1984, he killed 28-year-old transient drifter Randy Waldron in Reno, Nevada, because "he got in his way" while on the run from the law for the previously mentioned double murder.[1]

Thompson also confessed to the hired murder of a Federal prosecutor in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1983. However, according to United States Attorney Tony Graham, there were no reports of any missing or murdered state prosecutors in the area at the time, also stating that he wasn't going to investigate the claim. Aside from this, he also confessed to two more murders in New York and Kansas, but did not name the victims.[1]

He was sentenced to death for the murder of Randy Waldron, and was going to be executed by lethal injection in Nevada State Prison. While in prison awaiting execution, Thompson told the Associated Press that he had found religion and was "paying back to society with the only thing he could offer for it." On the day of his execution, after having his last meal, the prisoner was ordered to enter the chamber. According to warden Pete Demosthenes, his last words before entering were "Thank you for letting me die with dignity".[1]

Thompson was given the lethal injection at 2:01 AM on June 19, 1989, and pronounced dead eight minutes later.

• List of serial killers in the United States

• Jay Robert Nash: World Encyclopedia of 20th Century Murder, p. 563