KRYSTAL DEE KING (DIED: SEPTEMBER 12, 1986)

            On this date, September 12, 1986, 15-year-old, Krystal Dee King was murdered by Gerald James Holland. Holland was executed by lethal injection in Mississippi 24 years later on May 10, 2010. We, the VFFDP, was thankful that justice delayed was still justice served. We are also satisfied that the killer was remorseful and had repented.

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/holland1209.htm

Marcie Walker (left) and Melissa King Adams

Summary: Krystal King and a friend went to a rooming house where Holland was staying the day before her 15th birthday. They were looking for another friend who was not at home. Her body was found the next day in a shallow grave near Saucier in northern Harrison County. Holland's roommate, Jerry Douglas, who lived at the same rooming house as Holland, led police to the body and testified against Holland at trial. Douglas had assisted Holland in disposing of the body. An autopsy showed the cause of death was asphyxiation from a ligature placed around her neck and clothing stuffed down her throat. She had been raped, beaten and stabbed. King was a runaway at the time. Holland initially claimed in a recorded statement he had accidentally stabbed King when he tried to take a knife from her during a scuffle.

QUOTE 1: Walker and her twin sister, Malissa King Adams, spoke to the media after Holland's execution. They held a picture of the smiling teenager with flowing, shoulder-length blond hair. "We had 11 years with our sister," Walker said. "I'm not having nightmares anymore."

QUOTE 2: “It took 24 years, 24 of my personal years, to get to this point to see the man die who killed my sister," Walker said. "I can really say it is over with. My sister will finally have peace. I believe that."

AUTHOR: Marcie Walker and Melissa King Adams whose sister, Krystal Dee King was murdered by Gerald Holland on September 12, 1986. He was executed on May 20, 2010.