PARCHMAN, Miss. — Richard Gerald Jordan, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in the United States, was executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. He was 79 years old.
Jordan had been sentenced to death in 1976 for the kidnapping and murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a Gulfport bank loan officer, during a failed ransom scheme. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeals earlier in the day, and Governor Tate Reeves denied clemency.
The Crime
In January 1976, Jordan called the Gulf National Bank, requesting to speak with loan officer Charles Marter. After being told Marter was available, he hung up, looked up the family’s address in the phone book, and later abducted Edwina Marter from their home. He fatally shot her in a wooded area before calling her husband and falsely claiming she was alive, demanding $25,000 in ransom.
A Long Legal Journey
Jordan’s case spanned nearly five decades, including four trials and numerous appeals. His lawyers argued he was denied due process, citing his service in Vietnam and undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“He was never given… a mental health professional independent of the prosecution,” said Krissy Nobile, his defense attorney and director of Mississippi’s Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel. “His jury never got to hear about his Vietnam experiences.”
The Victim’s Family
Eric Marter, who was 11 years old when his mother was killed, said the family would not attend the execution. “It should have happened a long time ago,” he told reporters. “I’m not really interested in giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
Final Hours
Jordan spent the day with family, attorneys, and spiritual advisers, according to prison officials. He is one of only 22 people nationwide still on death row for crimes committed in the 1970s, per the Death Penalty Information Center.
His execution marks a significant moment in Mississippi’s criminal justice history, closing a chapter on one of the state’s longest-standing capital cases.
