Rainey Bethea
Rainey Bethea | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. October 16, 1909 Roanoke, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | August 14, 1936 (aged 26) Owensboro, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Resting place | Rosehill Elmwood Cemetery |
| Known for | Being one of the last people to be publicly executed in the United States |
| Criminal status | Executed by hanging (August 14, 1936) |
| Conviction | Rape |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
Rainey Bethea (c. 1909 – August 14, 1936), was the last person publicly executed in the United States. Bethea, who confessed to the rape and killing of a 70-year-old woman named Lishia Edwards, was convicted of her rape and publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky. It seems very likely that Bethea was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States because the executions in Missouri of Roscoe Jackson and others in 1936 and 1937 were already semipublic.