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Man executed in Missouri after killing live-in girlfriend, her three young children in 2004

BONNE TERRE, Mo. — A man in Missouri who was convicted of killing his live-in girlfriend and her three children in 2004 has been executed.

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Raheem Taylor 58, was executed Tuesday even though he had previously claimed that he was in another state when the murders happened, according to The Associated Press.

Taylor reportedly kicked his feet as the pentobarbital was administered, took a few breaths, and then died, the AP reported.

According to the AP, Taylor previously went by the first name Leonard. He claimed that he was in California at the time his live-in girlfriend Angela Rowe and her children, Alexus Conley, 10; AcQreya Conley, 6; and Tyrese Conley, 5, were killed in 2004.

Taylor and Rowe lived together with the children at a house in Jennings, Missouri. According to the AP, Taylor boarded a plane on Nov. 26, 2004, to California.

Police were called out to the house in Jennings for a welfare check on Dec. 3, 2004. Officers reportedly found Rowe and the three children’s bodies with gunshot wounds, according to the AP.

At first, the medical examiner said the four were killed a few days before the bodies were found when Taylor was reportedly in California. At his trial, Medical Examiner Phillip Burch said that the killing happened two or three weeks prior to the officers finding the bodies, according to the AP.

Bob McCulloch, who was St. Louis County’s elected prosecutor at the time of the killings told the AP that evidence suggested that the four were killed on Nov. 22 or Nov. 23 when Taylor was still in the St. Louis area. He also told the AP that Rowe used to make dozens of calls and texts each day but none were made starting on Nov. 23.

Officials said Rowe’s blood was found on Taylor’s glasses when he was arrested. According to the AP, a relative told investigators that when they took him to the airport they saw him toss a gun into a sewer and his brother said that Taylor admitted to the crime.

Authorities believed that Taylor got into a violent argument with Rowe when he shot her and then shot the kids because they were witnesses, according to the AP.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell declined a hearing on Taylor’s behalf before a judge and said that the “facts are not there to support a credible case of innocence,” according to the AP.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson declined to grant Taylor clemency Monday. The Missouri Supreme Court also denied a stay request, according to the AP. Tuesday morning, the United States Supreme County declined to get involved.

Taylor is the third inmate in Missouri to be executed since November at the Bonne Terre state prison and was the fifth execution nationally all by lethal injection, according to the AP.