Terry Langford

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Terry Langford

| birth_name = Terry Allen Langford

| birth_date = {{birth date|1966|5|18}}

| birth_place = Lebanon, Kentucky, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|2|24|1966|5|18}}

| death_place = Montana State Prison, Deer Lodge, Montana, U.S.

| death_cause = Execution by lethal injection

| criminal status = Executed

| conviction_penalty = Death (January 26, 1989)

| victims = 3–7

| date = July 5, 1988
September 22, 1991

| conviction = Deliberate homicide (3 counts)
Burglary

| image = Terry Langford.jpg

| states = Montana

| country = United States

}}

Terry Allen Langford (May 18, 1966 – February 24, 1998){{cite web|title=Terry Allen Langford Executed February 24th, 1998 by Lethal Injection in Montana|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/langford441.htm|work=Clark Prosecutor|access-date=November 5, 2007}} was an American convicted murderer who was executed by lethal injection in Montana. Langford was executed for the July 1988 murders of Ned and Celene Blackwood, in Ovando, Montana. His case was profiled in the true crime television series, Stolen Voices, Buried Secrets.

Early life

Langford was born on May 18, 1966, in Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky.{{cite news|last=Salter|first=Peter|title=Life ends for Langford|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83476612/life-ends-for-langford/|work=The Montana Standard|date=February 24, 1998|pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83476612/life-ends-for-langford/ 1], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83476633/langford/ 8]|access-date=August 15, 2021|via=Newspapers.com}} Not much is known about his early life other than he was a drifter who resided in Raleigh, North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Langford was convicted of forgery and tampering with a motor vehicle in the summer of 1987. As both charges were misdemeanors he received no jail time.{{cite web|url=https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0232786|title=Offender Information Terry Allen Langford|publisher=North Carolina Department of Public Safety|access-date=March 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326170127/https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/opi/viewoffender.do?method=view&offenderID=0232786|archive-date=March 26, 2021|url-status=live}}

Murders

In June 1988, Langford traveled to Ovando, Montana, by bus. He hiked north toward a mountainous area, ending up on the property of Ned and Celene Blackwood. He watched their movements from a distance for several days before entering the home on July 5, 1988, murdering them and stealing their belongings.{{cite news|date=February 23, 1998|title=Man Facing Execution For Murder in Montana|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/23/us/national-news-briefs-man-facing-execution-for-murder-in-montana.html|access-date=November 5, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210326151144/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/23/us/national-news-briefs-man-facing-execution-for-murder-in-montana.html|archive-date=March 26, 2021}}

After the killings he traveled to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where he stayed at a motel. The following morning, he pulled a knife on a maid when she entered his room. Langford fled, discarding a bag in a nearby wooded area, which contained the stolen guns of the Blackwood's. A criminal records check of the guns showed they belonged to the murdered couple. Afterwards, he was tracked down and apprehended.

He was convicted of murdering the couple and was sentenced to death on January 26, 1989. While on death row in Montana State Prison, Langford killed a fellow inmate during a riot on September 22, 1991, in which five inmates were killed. He was convicted of deliberate homicide and given a life term without parole. Langford was acquitted of four other counts of deliberate homicide.{{Cite news |date=1993-03-26 |title=Langford |pages=5 |work=The Montana Standard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97714454/langford/ |access-date=2022-03-16}}

Execution

After waiving his appeals, Langford was executed on February 24, 1998, at Montana State Prison. He declined to make a final statement.{{cite news|last=Laceky|first=Tom|date=February 24, 1998|title=Confessed Double Murderer {{as written|Execu|cted [sic]}}|work=Associated Press|url=https://apnews.com/article/95eb705fe81566538dfbcc003a7a7388|access-date=May 15, 2021}} At 31 years old, he was the youngest inmate put to death in Montana since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Langford remains the second of only three people to be executed in Montana since the resumption of capital punishment. The others were Duncan Peder McKenzie Jr. in 1995 and David Thomas Dawson in 2006.{{cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/execution-database?filters%5Bstate%5D=Montana|title=Searchable Execution Database|work=Death Penalty Information Center|access-date=March 26, 2021}}