VRABEL IS EXECUTED

The condemned man will be buried at the Chillicothe prison.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
LUCASVILLE -- Barring a last-minute appeal, murderer Stephen A. Vrabel will be dead by the time you read this.
Execution at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility was scheduled for 10 a.m. today. State law calls for lethal injection.
Busloads of death-penalty protesters, mostly students from other parts of the state, were expected at the prison this morning.
Vrabel, 47, the first inmate from Mahoning County to be put to death since 1948, will be buried at a cemetery on the grounds of the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. He becomes the state's 13th inmate to die by lethal injection since February 1999 and the second "volunteer" -- having waived further appeals.
Warden James S. Haviland was to read the death warrant at 9:50 a.m. Then Vrabel, inmate 313-033, would walk 17 steps from his holding cell to the execution chamber, said Andrea Dean, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Dean said cost of an execution by lethal injection is $66.43.
Should Vrabel, at the last minute, say he wants another appeal, the matter would be handled by the Ohio Attorney General's Office, Dean said. She did not foresee that happening.
In March 1989, Vrabel killed his live-in girlfriend, 28-year-old Susan Clemente, and their daughter, Lisa, 3, in Struthers.
His last day
Vrabel, who had been incarcerated at the Mansfield Correctional Institution, arrived at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, Dean said. She described him as "very compliant" with the process and "in a solemn mood."
Dean said she visited with Vrabel late Tuesday afternoon and they discussed whether he would make a final statement. "He was still thinking about it," Dean told reporters during a press briefing at the prison Tuesday evening.
For dinner at 4 p.m. Tuesday, his "special meal," Vrabel ordered a BLT with extra mayonnaise, ham and cheese omelet with extra cheese, two hot dogs with mustard, pork and beans, potato salad, vanilla ice cream, chocolate pudding and six Cokes.
Had he asked for alcohol, it would not have been served, Dean said, citing a need to not interfere with his sensibilities.
From 4:30 p.m. to around 7 p.m., Vrabel visited with his sister, Karen Koval of Philadelphia, and her two sons. Dean said Vrabel was "anxious to see her."
His sister and nephews were allowed another visit today at 6:30 a.m. He chose not to have a spiritual adviser.
Witnesses
Koval was his only relative scheduled to witness the execution. Because Vrabel's execution is for a double murder, the Clemente family was allowed six witnesses, double the number usually allowed.
The Clemente family said a prepared statement would be read after the execution. They hope their days of reliving with reporters the gruesome deaths of their loved ones are over.
The execution ends a 15-year saga that began March 3, 1989, with Vrabel buying a Jennings .22-caliber handgun "for no particular reason" except that he always wanted a gun, he said.
That evening, after drinking beer and smoking marijuana, he got the gun from a hall closet and fired one shot into Susan's head as she walked toward the kitchen in their apartment. He fired another round into her head then turned the gun on Lisa, who had begun "freaking out."
Wanderings
Vrabel took the gun and spent the night in a Liberty motel. The next day, he drove Susan's 1976 Plymouth to Wheeling, W.Va. and left it there. He took a bus to Columbus and spent the night in a hotel near Ohio State University.
The following morning, March 5, he took a bus back to Wheeling, picked up the car and drove back to the Struthers apartment. He poured floor stripper over the bodies because they smelled, then went to sleep.
The next day, March 6, he wrapped the bodies in sheets and blankets and emptied the refrigerator. He put Susan in the refrigerator and Lisa in the freezer with two stuffed teddy bears.
Throughout March, he stayed at the apartment they had rented from Susan's sister and brother-in-law.
Vrabel left the apartment April 4, 1989, to stay in a Liberty motel, then at a motel in Austintown.
Susan's body was discovered when her brother-in-law went to collect two months' rent April 5, smelled the cleaning fluids, noticed the place was a mess and opened the refrigerator. Lisa's body was found when police arrived.
Turned himself in
Vrabel, driving to Parma the next day, heard on the radio that police were looking for him. He approached the pastor of St. Charles Church in Parma and admitted killing Susan and Lisa.
The priest accompanied Vrabel to the Parma police station, where he confessed. He also confessed to Struthers police, saying only, "Sometimes when I drink, things happen."
During an interview with The Vindicator, Vrabel's mother, Helen, now deceased, suggested maybe he snapped. She described him as a warm and affectionate son who earned high grades at Cardinal Mooney High School.
At the time of the killings, Vrabel was a year away from earning a bachelor's degree in social work at Youngstown State University. A professor described him as a bright, mature, well-mannered gentleman.
Vrabel, after being indicted on two counts of aggravated murder in April 1989, was found incompetent to stand trial. He was committed to the Timothy B. Moritz Center in 1990 and remained there until 1994.
Competent to stand trial
On Aug. 30, 1994, he was deemed competent to stand trial.
Before being moved back to Mahoning County from a psychiatric hospital in Sagamore Hills, he escaped. He was picked up within a day in downtown Cleveland, where he'd gone to a lawyer's officer and called the hospital.
In October 1995, a jury convicted him and he was sentenced to death.
The routine run of appeals followed. He was scheduled to die Sept. 30, 2003, but the Ohio Supreme Court delayed it pending a mental evaluation and competency hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Four months ago, Vrabel waived further appeals.
Psychiatric experts deemed him competent. One report said Vrabel "is spiritually and psychologically preparing for his death."
At a clemency hearing last month, members of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority recommended that clemency not be granted. The panel noted that Vrabel did not request and did not want his life to be spared.
meade@vindy.com