Execution nears for man who killed 5

The 1992 robbing-and- killing binge became known as the ‘Christmas killings.’

DAYTON (AP) — The murders began on Christmas Eve.

An 18-year-old mother gunned down at a pay phone. A store clerk shot in the face after handing over $30 from the cash register. A 16-year-old girl yanked from a car and shot at a gravel pit.

But even more shocking was this revelation: The gun was wielded by a churchgoing teenager who sang in the choir and had no previous criminal record.

Marvallous Keene, now 36, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing five people during the 1992 crime rampage that became known as the “Christmas killings.”

The rampage took place over the Christmas holidays when Keene and five accomplices began a robbing-and-killing binge. After killing three people, Keene and one accomplice killed two of their other accomplices to prevent them from snitching about the crimes.

“Such senseless violence was unthinkable,” recalled Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. “Who would have thought that a group of young people could commit such a number of cold-blooded murders with such wanton disregard for human life that they killed a teenage girl for her jacket and shoes?”

A year before the slayings, Keene’s brother was shot and killed.

“He had been despondent over his brother’s death,” recalled attorney Michael Monta, who represented Keene during his trial. “I think he sort of felt he was just alone.”

Keene, 19 at the time, and two companions gained entrance to the home of Joseph Wilkerson under the pretext of wanting to take part in an orgy on Christmas Eve. Wilkerson was tied to the bed and his home ransacked. Investigators say Keene discovered a pistol in the man’s garage and shot him with it.

Later that day, Keene approached Danita Gullette, the mother of a 2-year-old child, as she was using a pay phone in an alley. He forced her to remove her red and black jacket and tennis shoes, shot her and took them.

Two days later, Keene robbed a convenience store, shooting clerk Sarah Abraham in the head after she handed him $30 from the cash register. Later that day, Keene drove Wendy Cottrill, who had seen Keene unload items he had stolen during the crimes, to a gravel pit. Investigators say he pulled her from the car by her hair and shot her.

Keene pulled the trigger in four of the five deaths of which he was convicted. Three other people — two of them juveniles — were also convicted for their part in the crime spree.

Former Dayton police homicide detective Doyle Burke said the case was challenging because the killings appeared to be random. He said investigators realized the shootings were connected after finding an unusual, aluminum-shelled ammunition next to the first two bodies that were discovered. Then police got a 911 phone call from a witness identifying some of the suspects.

“You have a group of people with no respect for life whatsoever. It’s just a group of demons,” Burke said. “This guy deserves the death penalty if anybody does.”

During his trial, Keene told the three-judge panel that the shooting death of his older brother and a falling-out with his father left him in a troubled emotional state. He said that about 10 days before the shootings, he bought some pills from a friend and began taking them, even though he did not drink or take drugs.

In the middle of the shooting spree, Keene visited his brother’s grave, Monta said.

“The world was kind of coming to an end,” Monta said. “He went out, and that kind of made it worse. He was at a loss as to what his life meant, at that point.”

During his June 17 clemency hearing, Keene asked his attorneys not to present any evidence on his behalf.

“Marvallous knows that he committed horrible, horrible crimes, and he regrets every single bit of it,” said public defender Rachel Troutman. “But he is not the person he was at that moment in time. And the only thing he can offer the victims’ families and his family at this point is to make the rest of this as easy as possible on them.”

During the clemency hearing, Rhonda Gullette said Keene’s murder of her sister wounded her family beyond repair.

“My mother grieved herself to death,” Gullette said. “I may look OK, but if you could open me up and see my broken heart, you’d see how much my 18-year-old sister meant to me.”