Oklahoma executes man for rape and murder of his 7-year-old former stepdaughter

An Oklahoma man convicted of raping and murdering his 7-year-old former stepdaughter in 1985 was executed Thursday morning

Richard Rojem Jr., 66, maintained his innocence until his execution by lethal injection for the rape and stabbing of Layla Dawn Cummings, the 7-year-old daughter of his ex-wife Mindy Cummings.

Rojem was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. local time at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, about 90 miles south of Tulsa. A spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said he had not yet spoken any final words.

Layla’s body was found in a field two months after Rojem and her mother, Mindy Cummings, divorced. The girl had stab wounds and was wearing her mother’s nightgown.

During a parole board hearing earlier this month, Cummings said that “everything” the little girl could have become was “stolen from her in one terrible night.” USA today reports.

“She never became more than the wonderful 7-year-old she was. And so she remains in our hearts – forever 7,” she said.

Rojem has always maintained his innocence.

“I did not kidnap Layla. I did not rape Layla. And I did not murder Layla,” he said during a pardon hearing before the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Parole.

On the night of July 6, 1984, Cummings left her children, Layla, and a 9-year-old brother home alone while she went to work at a local fast-food restaurant, according to USA today.

At some point during the evening, Layla was kidnapped from Cummings’ apartment.

According to court documents, a farmer found Layla’s body the next morning in a field about 15 miles from her home in Burns Flat, Oklahoma.

Rojem and Cummings met while he was serving time in a Michigan prison for the rape of two teenagers. Cummings’ brother was Rojem’s cellmate at the time.

Prosecutors argued that Rojem knew Cummings’ work hours and also knew that the lock on her door was broken at the time of Layla’s abduction.

On May 31, 1985, a jury sentenced Rojem to death.

Rojem appealed his death sentence several times until he exhausted all appeal options in 2017.

He won two of his appeals, resulting in his first and second death sentences being overturned in 2001 and 2006, respectively. Both times, his appeals were upheld over jury objections.

In 2007, a jury sentenced him to death for the third time. After that, Rojem never won any of his appeals.

At a pardon hearing on June 17, he insisted he did not kill the little girl and apologized for his past actions.

“I wasn’t a good person in the first half of my life, I don’t deny that,” Rojem said. “But I went to prison. I learned my lesson and put it all behind me.”

However, his request for clemency was rejected.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a statement after Rojem’s execution saying that “justice has finally been done.”

“Layla’s family has endured unimaginable suffering for nearly 40 years. I pray that today’s action brings comfort to those who loved her,” he said.

Cummings attended Rojem’s execution and said in a statement that Rojem “deserves nothing less than today’s final justice for the cruel, barbaric and torturous suffering he inflicted on her daughter.”

“Today, as we approach the anniversary of Layla-Dawn’s horrific death on July 7, we remember her, honor her and hold her forever in our hearts as the sweet and precious 7-year-old she was,” she said.

She also said the family honors the memory of Layla’s father, Don Cummings, who committed suicide shortly after Rojem’s first trial in 1985, according to Oklahoma Attorney General’s parole records.

Cummings said Don Cummings committed suicide “due to the absolute evil of a monster who deliberately tortured him to the brink of despair and thus ended his life.”

“We are grateful today for justice and the knowledge that Richard Rojem will never be able to harm us or anyone else again,” Cummings said.