Robert Sawyer (murderer)

On September 28, 1979, Robert Sawyer, Frances Arwood, and Charles W. Lane were at Cynthia Shano's mother's house in Gretna, Louisiana.

As the arguing continued, Sawyer pushed Arwood's head back against a sofa bed and hit her in the face.

Sawyer and Lane continued to lounge about the residence listening to records and discussing the disposition of Arwood's body.

When the nephew knocked insistently, Sawyer gave Shano the key to open the door and she ran screaming to the safety of her relatives.

Her excited ravings were incomprehensible to her nephew and sister until they looked inside and saw the gruesome scene and Arwood's beaten and blistered body.

Arwood, who arrived at the hospital in a coma, had third degree burns all over her body, lacerations on her chin, and swelling of the face and neck.

The cause of death was significant brain damage from a blunt head injury and extensive burns over most of her body.

At the sentencing hearing, the prosecution offered evidence that Sawyer had a previous conviction for involuntary manslaughter in Arkansas.

On Friday, March 5, 1993, Sawyer was executed by lethal injection at Louisiana State Penitentiary (commonly known as Angola) at the age of 42.

In a petition to the Pardon Board before his execution, Sawyer alleged he was mentally unfit, suffering from organic brain damage.