Lisa Rene (1978 – September 26, 1994) was an American teenage girl who was kidnapped from her apartment in Texas, raped over the course of two days, and buried alive in Arkansas.
[1][2] Another man, 23-year-old Marvin Terrance Holloway, did not directly participate in her kidnapping, rape, or murder, but was present at times and provided financial assistance to the group.
Orlando Hall, considered to be the ringleader in the crime, was sentenced to death and executed by the federal government in 2020.
[9] In the mid-1990s, Orlando Hall, Bruce Webster, and Marvin Holloway ran a drug trafficking operation in Arkansas.
Steven Beckley, who lived in Irving, Texas, helped the trio buy marijuana specifically around Dallas and Fort Worth.
Beckley would transport the drugs to Pine Bluff, Arkansas and give them to Holloway, who stashed them in his house.
Orlando, Demetrius, and Beckley went to the address and saw Vitalis and Neil leaving an apartment and walking to the car they claimed was stolen.
Outraged, he was adamant on either receiving what he was owed or getting revenge, saying "I'm not going back to Arkansas until I get my money, my drugs, or some blood on my hands.
The group, dressed in camouflage fatigues, brought two pistols, a baseball bat, duct tape, and gasoline.
Demetrius smashed the door and Webster rushed inside and dragged Rene to the group's car.
[12] After Beckley, Demetrius, and Webster arrived in Arkansas, Holloway gave them money to rent a motel room.
To avoid drawing attention, the men had Rene pretend to be Beckley's girlfriend by having them hold hands.
Haywood King, a motel security guard who had grown up with Webster in Arkansas, became suspicious of Demetrius after seeing him repeatedly look outside the curtains.
A patrolling officer saw the car carrying Rene, which was driven by Beckley, take an illegal turn.
[10] That night, Orlando, Webster, and Beckley brought Rene, whose face was covered with a mask, back to the park and located the grave.
Webster gagged Rene, dragged her into the grave, soaked her with gasoline, and shoveled dirt onto her.
[10] Three days after Lisa Rene's death, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Orlando, Demetrius, and Beckley for her kidnapping.
On October 5, 1994, following his transfer to a jail in Arlington County, Orlando gave a written statement to the FBI and local police, in which he admitted to kidnapping and killing Rene.
On November 4, 1994, in a superseding indictment, Orlando, Demetrius, Webster, Beckley, and Holloway were charged with kidnapping resulting in death, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, traveling in interstate commerce with intent to promote the possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, using a telephone to promote the unlawful activity of extortion, traveling in interstate commerce with intent to promote extortion, and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
In October 1995, Orlando Hall was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, traveling in interstate commerce with intent to promote the possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
[13] In exchange for lesser sentences, Demetrius, Beckley, and Holloway, pleaded guilty and testified against Orlando and Webster.
During their joint sentencing hearing on September 9, 1996, U.S. District Judge Terry Means admonished each of them for failing to prevent Rene's death.
Means reserved his harshest words for him, saying he deserved to be executed and likely would have received a death sentence had he not cooperated and his case had gone to trial.
[14] Marvin Holloway, who was present at times and financed the crimes, but did not directly participate in the abuse of Rene, pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to kidnapping and interstate transportation in aid of a racketeering enterprise.
The court ruled against him, saying he had witnessed Lisa Rene, in his words, "praying for her life" while bound in the motel.
[18] Orlando Hall was executed by lethal injection on November 19, 2020, at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, at the age of 49.
[20] Days before his execution, Orlando published a written statement in which he protested the U.S. judicial system, but admitted to his role in Rene's murder, saying he had been selfish and had traumatized her family as well as his own.
"[20]Neil Rene and Stanfield Vitalis were initially quiet after their sister's disappearance, refusing to talk to the authorities for three days.
[10] Neil had lost a package of cocaine in a drug bust, and his need for money to hire a good lawyer is reportedly what prompted him to rip off the gang in the first place.
After hearing of his arrest, Richard Roper, the attorney who prosecuted the killers of Lisa Rene, said "You would have hoped he would have changed his ways, but that's exactly why he got in trouble.