A death row inmate who slaughtered her elderly neighbour uttered chilling last words before she was executed.
Kimberly McCarthy gained the grisly title of being the 500th person to be put to death by lethal injection in Texas in 2013.
The 52-year-old suspected serial killer was put on death row after she was convicted of the murder of Dorothy Booth in 1997.
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Police believed she was also behind the murders of another two elderly women, but she was never tried for those crimes.
McCarthy maintained her innocence until the very end - insisting she had been framed for Dorothy's death.
The mum-of-one even successfully appealed her conviction in 2002, but was re-tried and placed back on death row later that year.
McCarthy slaughtered her unsuspecting neighbour after heading over to her house under the guise of borrowing some sugar on 21 July, 1997.
She allegedly called Dorothy to forewarn her of her arrival, but prosecutors say her true intention was to rob the pensioner.
The killer had developed an addiction to crack cocaine throughout her adult life and needed funds for a fix.
McCarthy stabbed her neighbour five times with a butcher knife, beat her with a candelabrum and then horrificly sliced off her finger to steal her diamond wedding ring.
The former occupational therapist then took Dorothy's purse as well as her Mercedes-Benz.
She then pawned the diamond ring to buy crack cocaine and went on a spending spree at a liquor store with her victim's credit cards. She had also had taken Dorothy's driving licence.
McCarthy was quickly arrested the day after the killing, with police finding her DNA plastered all over the murder weapon.
In 1998, a Dallas County jury found her guilty of the grisly murder.
But there was a chance she may have dodged execution, as it was twice stayed by eleventh hour legal appeals in 2012.
Her lawyers claimed that her trial had been blighted by racial discrimination and her representation had been inadequate.
McCarthy's lawyer, Maurie Levin, also said the jury was bias because the prosecution had used peremptory strikes to block prospective non-white jurors.
There was only one non-white memory on the jury.
But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did not hear the case and McCarthy's execution was finalised.
She then voiced her final words before the lethal injection was administered to her on 26 June, 2013.
"This is not a loss, this is a win," the killer said.
"You know where I am going. I am going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love y'all. Thank you, chaplain."
Topics: Crime, True Crime, US News
Olivia Burke