[2] In 1957, Kiefer, a Fort Wayne mechanic,[3] murdered his wife, Pearl; he later claimed that he was sick of her criticizing his fishing and drinking habits.
[5] After murdering them, Kiefer hacked their bodies with a knife and then left for Chicago with $3 from his wife's purse and some change from his daughter's piggy bank.
However, in 1958, the conviction was overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court, which noted that at his first trial, the jury was shown photographs of the slashed victims' bodies, and the jury was emotionally fueled by the photos to sentence Kiefer to death.
[6] His attorney filed an appeal, but the rest of the Supreme Court declined to consider it, and the then-Governor of Indiana, Matthew E. Welsh, signed Kiefer's second death warrant for the execution to take place on June 14, 1961.
On June 15, 1961, at 12:04 AM, Richard Kiefer began the walk, unassisted, to Indiana's electric chair.