The Wrongful Execution of Carlos DeLuna

Carlos DeLuna, 27, was executed by lethal injection for the 1983 murder of 24-year-old Wanda Lopez— a crime he didn’t commit. DeLuna maintained his innocence all the way up until his final breath.

On Feb. 4, 1983, Lopez was working the evening shift at a Shamrock gas station when she noticed a suspicious man carrying a knife. She called 911 in an attempt to notify police. While on the phone with dispatchers, Lopez was heard trying to give the man money so that he would, in turn, leave the gas station. Seconds later, she screamed.

When police arrived on the scene, Lopez had been stabbed once causing her to bleed to death, and witnesses gave descriptions of the suspect. Soon, law enforcement tracked down Carlos DeLuna, who fit the description and who eyewitnesses identified as the killer of Wanda Lopez.

DeLuna, who had a previous criminal record, stated at his trial that it was not he who killed Wanda Lopez, but Carlos Hernandez. Hernandez had a previously violent criminal record. The two men, however, had shocking physical similarities such as, height and weight. Even DeLuna’s family could not distinguish one from the other.

After not being able to locate Carlos Hernandez, the jury believed that Hernandez was a figment of DeLuna’s imagination or a “phantom.” DeLuna was then convicted of murder and executed in 1989.

Years later, another look was taken back into the case, where investigators found that Carlos Hernandez, was a real person who had admitted numerous times to friends that he was the “Shamrock Killer.” There were also many protocols which failed to take place during the crime-scene investigation.

Hernandez was never charged for the crime, but was later put in prison for attacking a neighbor with a knife.

He died in prison in 1999, aged 44.