Lois Nadean Smith

Lois Nadean (Dodd) Smith was born on September 12, 1940 and was convicted of the July 4, 1982 murder of 21-year-old Cindy Baillee in Gans. Baillee was the former girlfriend of Smith's son, Greg. Smith, along with her son and another woman, picked up Baillee from a Tahlequah, OK motel early on the morning of the murder. As they drove away from the motel, Smith confronted Baillee about rumors that Baillee had arranged for Greg Smith's murder - charges which Baillee denied. Smith choked Baillee and stabbed her in the throat as they drove to the home of Smith's ex-husband in Gans. At the house, Smith forced Baillee to sit in a recliner and taunted her with a pistol, finally firing several shots. Baillee fell to the floor, and while her son reloaded the pistol, Smith laughed and jumped on Baillee's neck. She then fired four shots into Baillee's chest and two to the back of her head. An autopsy revealed nine gunshot wounds to Baillee's body.

She was executed by lethal injection on December 4, 2001. Smith is the last woman on Oklahoma's death row. No state had executed as many women in one year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

Before the drugs were administered, she thanked her attorneys and asked for forgiveness. "To the families, I want to say I'm sorry for the pain and loss I've caused you," Smith said. "I ask that you forgive me. You must forgive to be forgiven."

She was buried at Tahlequah City Cemetery in Tahlequah, OK.