Crime
State seeks execution date for a convicted ex-Marine recruiter
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After sitting on death row for over two decades, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office is asking the state for an execution date for convicted murderer Thomas Edwin Loden, Jr.
Loden, a former Marine recruiter, pleaded guilty to capital murder and four counts of sexual battery in Itawamba County. He was convicted of raping and killing Leesa Marie Gray, strangling her to death.
On June 22, 2000, Gray disappeared on her way home from work. Relatives found her car hours later with the hazard lights flashing, her purse still inside the vehicle. Her body was discovered the next day in Loden’s van.
Loden worked in the Marines’ recruiting office in Vicksburg in 1998. Since being sentenced, Loden has appealed his conviction many times but were all denied.
