Facts of Crime: 70-year-old Mary Ann Hughes was found dead December 3, 1993, in the doorway of her home outside Stanardsville. Roach was a friend of Hughes' sister, Mamie Estes, and frequently helped the elderly woman by chopping wood and cutting the grass. He even visited Hughes to play Yahtzee. She was a sweet old lady whose door was open to everyone. But that didn't stop Roach from killing her. Hughes was standing in the front door of her home, and was killed by a single shotgun blast to the cheek. Her body was discovered the next day.
Several weeks before the murder, Roach and two of his friends had been firing a shotgun at his home. When Hughes was shot, Roach took her car, a 1981 Buick Regal, and fled the state, traveling to North and South Carolina. Police say that on December 4, 1993, Roach attempted to use the dead woman's bank card at an automated teller machine in North Carolina. A videotape taken at the ATM was introduced as evidence. On December 5, 1993, South Carolina highway patrolmen spotted the Buick speeding and attempted to stop the car, but the driver escaped into the woods. After turning himself in on December 6, 1993, Roach gave an audiotaped confession in which he stated that he shot Hughes and took her car and purse. Roach, who was 17 at the time, said he didn't know why he killed Hughes.
Victim: Mary Ann Hughes
Manner of execution: Lethal Injection
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