Execution date set for Stanley Adams, in rape/murder of 12-year-old, murder of her mom

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Supreme Court has set an execution date for Stanley Adams, who was convicted in the killing of a Warren woman and the rape and murder of her daughter nearly 18 years ago.

Adams, 50, is to be put to death April 16, 2020.

Adams murdered Esther Cook, 43, by beating her to death and raped and murdered Ashley Cook, 12, in their Dickey Avenue Northwest home Oct. 11, 1999. He killed Ashley by strangling her with an electrical cord. Adams, of Champion, and his girlfriend lived with Cook and her daughter earlier in 1999.

The Ohio Supreme Court earlier affirmed Adams’ death sentence.

In a separate case, Adams also was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the rape and murder of 40-year-old Roslyn Taylor of Hubbard Township. According to documents, her “partially clad body was discovered ... in a fire-damaged automobile.”

In a filing with the state’s high court earlier this year, the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office noted that Adams has “exhausted all his state and federal court reviews of his conviction and death sentence and has not sought a stay.”

Read more about the case in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.