Coy Wayne "Elvis" Wesbrook (February 1, 1958 – March 9, 2016) was an American

mass murderer Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more pe ...

, convicted for the killing of five people in

Channelview, Texas Channelview is a census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas on the eastside of Houston, Harris County. The population was 45,688 at the 2020 U.S. census. History Channelview was given its name since it is located on the north ...

on November 13, 1997. Wesbrook fatally shot his ex-wife, Gloria Jean Coons, her female roommate, and three men during a party at Coons' home in an apparent fit of jealous rage. Wesbrook was sentenced to

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

in 1998, and was executed by

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...

in 2016.

Marriage and divorce

On July 5, 1995, Wesbrook and Gloria Jean Coons were married. However, they had already lived together years before their marriage. In November 1997, they divorced, but Wesbrook wanted forgiveness. He attempted to reconcile with Coons by attending the party. At the time of his crime, he had one daughter.Michael H. Stone & Gary Brucato. The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2019), pp. 33-34.

Murders

According to Wesbrook, on November 12th, he went to visit his ex-wife, Coons, at her home in

, in the

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

area. He was invited to a party at Coons' apartment along with other friends, Diana Ruth Money, and three other males. Wesbrook had gone there with hopes of rebuilding the relationship with Coons, but went into a rage when the party's attendees began to mock him because Coons had cheated on him in the bedroom. At some point in the evening, Wesbrook noticed that his ex-wife and two of the men had slipped away, and when he went into the bedroom, he found Coons having sex with both of the men. While they were mocking him Cruz stole his keys and hid them in his pants, preventing him from leaving. He was able to get his keys back and he left. A very short time later he returned in his truck and pulled out his .30-06 hunting rifle and returned to the residence. After bringing the gun into the room, the attendees continued to torment him. Money threw a can of beer at Wesbrook, which discharged the rifle, killing her. After he fired at her, Cruz and Rogers ran toward him and he fired at them too. He then entered the room where Hazlip and Coons were having sex, and fatally shot them both.

Witnesses

At about 2 a.m., a neighbor heard the gunfire, grabbed a

cell phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

, went next door, saw the

corpses A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stu ...

, and called 911. Wesbrook was arrested at the scene, and it is unknown whether his testimony is accurate or not. There were two witnesses that called 911. The first witness lived upstairs and heard Wesbrook kick open the door and fire off two shots. Knowing exactly what the sound was the neighbor called 911 and while on the line, the dispatcher heard the other three shots ring out.

Victims

*Gloria Jean Coons, 32 (ex-wife) *Antonio Cruz, 35 *Anthony Rogers, 41 *Diana Money, 43 *Kelly Hazlip, 38

Trial and conviction

Wesbrook's trial only went on for 11 days before a

verdict In law, a verdict is the formal trier of fact, finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In Engl ...

was reached. At his trial, he admitted to killing the victims, but he claimed that he did not intend to kill anyone, and said that he killed the victims in a fit of rage. On August 13, 1998, Wesbrook was sentenced to death by

. Despite his low IQ and the disputed testimony of Dr. George Denkowski, Wesbrook was denied another trial in 2007. Wesbrook was executed by

on March 9, 2016, and was pronounced dead at 8:04 p.m. Before being executed, he said his

last words Last words are the final utterances before death. The meaning is sometimes expanded to somewhat earlier utterances. Last words of famous or infamous people are sometimes recorded (although not always accurately) which became a historical and liter ...

, which were "''I'm sorry I can't bring everybody back. I wish things could have been a lot different''".

References

External links

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Inmate Information: Coy Wayne Wesbrook
* Hoffberger, Chase.
Death Watch: Heat of the Moment Coy Wesbrook's mental deficiencies make his pending execution a "travesty," claims his lawyer
" ''

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

''. March 4, 2016.
Killer of 5 gets another shot to dodge death

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at the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. April 4, 2012. *
Death Row Inmate Interview
" Texan News Service (

Tarleton State University Tarleton State University is a public university with its main campus in Stephenville, Texas. It is a founding member of the Texas A&M University System and enrolled over 14,000 students in the fall of 2020. History John Tarleton Agricultural ...

Department of Journalism). February 18, 2016 - Interview of Wesbrook

Legal documents

*
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,En Banc. Coy Wayne WESBROOK, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas. No. 73205. Decided: September 20, 2000
" *

* " ttp://law.justia.com/cases/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/2012/wr-52-120-02.html Ex parte Coy Wayne Wesbrook (Other) -

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wesbrook, Coy Wayne 1958 births 1997 mass shootings in the United States 1997 murders in the United States 2016 deaths 21st-century executions by Texas 21st-century executions of American people Executed American mass murderers Mass shootings in the United States Mass murder in Texas Massacres in 1997 Massacres in the United States People convicted of murder by Texas People executed by Texas by lethal injection Criminals from Houston