Missouri executes man in ’01 killing

BONNE TERRE, Mo. – A Missouri inmate who sexually attacked a 19-year-old woman before tying her to a cemetery tree and killing her was executed Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court and the governor declined to intervene.

David Zink, 55, was put to death at a state prison near Bonne Terre, south of St. Louis, hours after the nation’s high court rebuffed his last appeals and Gov. Jay Nixon rejected his clemency request. Corrections Department spokesman Mike O’Connell said the lethal injection began at 7:33 p.m. and Zink was pronounced dead at 7:41 p.m.

Zink was convicted and recommended for a death sentence in the 2001 killing of Amanda Morton. Authorities said Zink abducted her after hitting her car from behind on an Interstate 44 exit ramp a mile from her Strafford home. Morton was driving home after visiting a friend.

Just months before the slaying, Zink had been released from a Texas prison after serving 20 years on rape, abduction and escape charges. Fearing his drunken fender-bender with Morton could violate his parole and send him back to prison, Zink abducted Morton, taking her to a motel, according to his videotaped confession.

The motel’s manager later saw a televised news report about Morton’s disappearance, recognized her as the woman who had checked in with Zink, and contacted police.

Zink, after being arrested at his parents’ home, led authorities to Morton’s buried body in a cemetery.

An autopsy showed Morton had eight broken ribs and 50 to 100 blunt-force injuries. She also had been sexually assaulted, with DNA evidence linked to Zink found on her body.