NEW ORLEANS—Serial killer Derrick Todd Lee was sentenced to be executed years ago, but instead he died Thursday in a Louisiana hospital.
Lee, 47, was taken from prison to the hospital early Saturday and died shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday, Department of Public Safety and Corrections spokeswoman Pam Laborde said in an emailed statement.
He had been sentenced to life for one murder and to death for killing 22-year-old Charlotte Murray Pace, who was stabbed 81 times and bludgeoned with an iron in May 2002. DNA evidence linked him to at least five other killings, officials said.
Baton Rouge serial murder suspect Derrick Todd Lee appears in Fulton County Superior Court for an extradition hearing May 28, 2003 in Atlanta, Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images
