Killer Who Became a Buddhist Executed

A murderer whose death-row conversion to Buddhism inspired international appeals to spare his life was executed by lethal injection. William Frank Parker, who took the name Si-Fu upon his embrace of Buddhism, was pronounced dead at 10:04 p.m. EDT by the coroner in Lincoln County, Ark. In 1984, Parker shot to death his ex-wife’s parents and attempted to kill the couple’s other daughter. He then kidnapped his ex-wife and drove her to a police station, where he shot her and an officer and held other officers at bay for six hours until a marksman disabled him.