Missouri executes convicted murderer Amber McLaughlin

FILE – This photo provided by the Federal Public Defender Office shows death row inmate Amber McLaughlin. Unless Missouri Gov. Mike Parson grants clemency, McLaughlin will become the first transgender woman executed in the U.S. She is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday, Jan 3, 2022, for stabbing to death a former girlfriend, Beverly Guenther, in 2003. (Jeremy S. Weis/Federal Public Defender Office via AP, File)

by: Kevin S. Held

Posted: Jan 3, 2023 / 07:19 PM CST

Updated: Jan 3, 2023 / 07:19 PM CST

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BONNE TERRE, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Corrections carried out its execution of Amber McLaughlin early Tuesday evening. She was the first openly transgender inmate to be killed by the state.

The execution was carried out at 6:39 p.m. at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri. McLaughlin, 49, died via lethal injection. She was declared dead by 6:51 p.m.

On Jan. 1, 2023, McLaughlin submitted her last statement to the DOC: “I am sorry for what I did. I am a loving and caring person.”

McLaughlin was sentenced to death on Nov. 3, 2006, for the murder of ex-girlfriend Beverly Guenther. During the 2005 trial, prosecutors said McLaughlin, then known as Scott, stalked Guenter, abducted her as she left her job, and stabbed her to death.

McLaughlin was convicted of rape and murder in 2005. However, St. Louis County jurors failed to reach a unanimous consensus on the death penalty. The presiding judge ultimately made the death sentence determination.

Governor Mike Parson released a statement after the execution, opting to use McLaughlin’s deadname:

Today, the State of Missouri carried out Scott McLaughlin’s sentence as ordered by the Missouri Supreme Court. McLaughlin was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2003 brutal rape and murder and of Beverly Guenther. McLaughlin terrorized Ms. Guenther in the final years of her life, but we hope her family and loved ones may finally have some peace.
Gov. Mike Parson