{"id":31600,"date":"2022-12-12T16:37:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T16:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/12\/12\/slain-teen-loved-life-mom-says-before-marine-vet-killers-execution\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:56:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:56:32","slug":"slain-teen-loved-life-mom-says-before-marine-vet-killers-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/veterans\/2022\/12\/12\/slain-teen-loved-life-mom-says-before-marine-vet-killers-execution\/","title":{"rendered":"Slain teen \u2018loved life,\u2019 mom says before Marine vet killer\u2019s execution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/11\/18\/marine-vets-execution-date-set-after-21-years-on-death-row\/\" target=\"_blank\">Leesa Gray was a 16-year-old girl<\/a> who found joy in her church youth group, sang in the school chorus and quietly stood up for teenagers who were bullied by their peers, according to friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe was pretty happy-go-lucky, always smiling,\u201d recalled Leesa\u2019s mother, Wanda Farris. \u201cThat\u2019s what I most remember her by, is her smile. She loved life and she was a good Christian girl.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, Farris is scheduled to go to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman to witness the execution by lethal injection of the man who pleaded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/10\/10\/state-wants-execution-date-for-marine-recruiter-convicted-of-murder\/\" target=\"_blank\">guilty to raping and killing her daughter. <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/10\/10\/state-wants-execution-date-for-marine-recruiter-convicted-of-murder\/\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas Edwin Loden Jr.<\/a>, now 58, has been on death row 21 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Loden is among the death row inmates<a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/10\/18\/attorney-for-ex-marine-recruiter-wants-state-to-wait-on-execution-date\/\" target=\"_blank\"> suing Mississippi over the state\u2019s three-drug protocol for executions. <\/a>A federal judge last week denied a request to block Loden\u2019s execution while the lawsuit, which was filed in 2015, continues. Mississippi\u2019s most recent execution was in November 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/veterans\/2022\/11\/18\/marine-vets-execution-date-set-after-21-years-on-death-row\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22277779266513.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Marine vet\u2019s execution date set after 21 years on death row<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The former Marine Corps recruiter was convicted in the 2000 rape and killing of a 16-year-old waitress.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the summer ahead of what should have been Leesa\u2019s senior year of high school, she worked as a waitress at her uncle\u2019s restaurant in north Mississippi\u2019s Itawamba County \u2014 a place that serves eggs, grits and biscuits in the morning, and hamburgers, steak and catfish later in the day. On June 22, 2000, she left work after dark and became stranded with a flat tire on a rural road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Loden, a Marine Corps recruiter with relatives in the area, stopped about 10:45 p.m. According to an interview he later gave investigators, he forced Leesa into his van and spent four hours raping and sexually battering her before strangling and suffocating her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September 2021, Loden pleaded guilty to capital murder, rape and four counts of sexual battery. According to court records, Loden told Leesa\u2019s friends and family during his sentencing: \u201cI hope you may have some sense of justice when you leave here today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Farris told The Associated Press on Friday that she did not believe Loden\u2019s apology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t particularly want to see somebody die,\u201d Farris said. \u201cBut I do believe in the death penalty. &#8230; I do believe in justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leesa\u2019s best friend, Lisa Darracott, hopes the execution will bring her closure. Darracott \u2014 whose last name was Sheffield before she married \u2014 said she thinks every day about Leesa, whom she met the first day of kindergarten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSame name, different spelling,\u201d said Darracott, 39. \u201cOur mothers introduced us to distract us from that fact that we didn\u2019t want to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She described Leesa as both quiet and outgoing, and welcoming to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When they were small, they would play at working in an office or keeping house, she said, and \u201cgive ourselves married names of whatever boy we had a crush on.\u201d When they were older, they enjoyed dancing to Shania Twain\u2019s \u201cAny Man of Mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe had a secret obsession with the Spice Girls,\u201d Darracott said with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leesa loved to do hair and makeup while she was a student at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi, and would help Darracott get ready for dances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Farris said Leesa had a job babysitting two young boys and loved taking part in the youth group at Bethel Baptist Church. She described her daughter as \u201ca good kid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe wasn\u2019t perfect, now, mind you,\u201d Farris said. \u201cBut she strived to do right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Farris said her daughter aspired to become an elementary school teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Farris said she forgave her daughter\u2019s killer years ago. A feeling came over her, and she believes it was the Lord speaking to her heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI said, \u2018I forgive you, Eddie Loden,\u2019\u201d Farris said. \u201cI just felt at peace about it, but I started crying. I felt like I was betraying Leesa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She called her pastor, who assured her that Leesa would want her to forgive Loden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like Darracott, Farris hopes the execution will help her move on \u2014 but not forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou just have this hanging over your head all these years,\u201d Farris said. \u201cLeesa is always going to be in my heart and my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">____<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More of AP\u2019s coverage of executions can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/executions\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/executions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Marine recruiter Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. initially had stopped to help the 16-year-old girl with a flat tire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":63796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["newsletters","left-column","home","disaster","veterans"],"primary_category":"veterans"},"4":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"daily-news-roundup"},"5":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"daily-news-roundup"},"7":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"daily-news-roundup"}}},"categories":[101,22,23,92,25,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2971],"class_list":["post-31600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-disaster","category-home","category-left-column","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TLFHEGPSAFARFHFMYUCBBJQ254","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2022\/12\/12\/slain-teen-loved-life-mom-says-before-marine-vet-killers-execution\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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