Man Set To Be Executed For Killing Estranged Wife’s Family

Inmate Billie Cobble. The 69-year-old prisoner on Texas death row for almost three decades for the slayings near Waco of three people—including the parents of his estranged wife—has lost a federal court appeal, moving him a step closer to execution. Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP

HUNTSVILLE, Texas—A Texas death row inmate once described by a prosecutor as having “a heart full of scorpions” was set to be executed on Feb. 28, for killing his estranged wife’s parents and her brother, who was a police officer.

Billie Wayne Coble was condemned for the August 1989 shooting deaths of his in-laws, Robert and Zelda Vicha, and their son, Bobby Vicha, at their homes in Axtell, northeast of Waco.