14th Female Executed in US Since 1976

A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage has been put to death in a rare execution of a female prisoner. Suzanne Basso this evening became only the 14th woman executed in the US since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Almost 1,400 men have been put to death during that time.

The 59-year-old Basso was sentenced to die for the 1998 slaying of 59-year-old Louis "Buddy" Musso. His battered and lacerated body was found in a ditch outside Houston. Prosecutors said Basso, a New York native, had made herself the beneficiary of Musso's insurance policies and took over his Social Security benefits after luring him from New Jersey. The sentence was carried out via lethal injection. (More execution stories.)