Killer Executed; Brain Removed for Crime Research

Carroll Edward Cole, who confessed to killing more than a dozen women as revenge for an abusive mother, was executed by injection today, and at his request his brain was removed an hour later for research on criminal behavior.

Cole was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m., six minutes after a mixture of three deadly chemicals was pumped into his body one at a time. It was the first execution by injection in Nevada.

Cole, 47, had agreed to let doctors examine his brain to see whether there was a physical reason for his murderous rages that followed drinking bouts in bars where he met many of his victims.

Cole became the 50th person executed in this country since the U.S. Supreme Court revived the death penalty in 1976. His execution also was the first in the West since the 1979 execution in Nevada of convicted killer Jesse Bishop.