A Texas man convicted of killing and decapitating his three young children is scheduled to face lethal injection on November 12, 2026, more than two decades after the horrific murders that shocked the United States.
John Allen Rubio, who claimed his children were possessed by demons before the killings, is facing execution at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville following years of legal battles and unsuccessful appeals.
Rubio was convicted of murdering his three children, identified as three-year-old Julissa Quesada, one-year-old John Esteban Rubio and two-month-old Mary Jane Rubio.
The children were killed on March 11, 2003, inside the family’s apartment in Brownsville, Texas. Their bodies were later discovered in plastic bags after Rubio’s brother visited the apartment and alerted the authorities.
During interviews following his arrest, Rubio reportedly claimed he had witnessed strange occurrences involving his family and believed witchcraft was being practised against them.
He alleged that his eldest daughter had begun behaving strangely, claiming she was his grandmother. Rubio said the incident reinforced his belief that the child was possessed by an evil spirit.
His defence lawyers subsequently argued that he suffered from a form of paranoid schizophrenia that influenced his beliefs and actions.
However, prosecutors maintained that the circumstances surrounding the killings warranted the death penalty.
Rubio’s common-law wife and the children’s mother, Angela Camacho, was also convicted for her involvement in the murders. She pleaded guilty to three counts of capital murder in 2005 and received three life sentences. She is expected to become eligible for parole in 2043.
The case has passed through several stages of the American judicial system. Rubio was initially convicted and sentenced to death in 2003, but an appeals court overturned the conviction in 2007 after finding that improperly admitted evidence had been used during the trial.
He was subsequently retried in 2010, convicted again and sentenced to death.
More recently, his legal team attempted to secure a postponement of the execution, arguing that prosecutors had failed to address allegedly false testimony from a key forensic psychiatrist during the retrial.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the request, keeping the execution on schedule.
A judge also ruled in October 2026 that Rubio was mentally competent to understand his execution and the reasons behind his punishment.
Speaking about his impending execution, Rubio reportedly said he was prepared to die and wanted to be reunited with his children and God.
“Now that I have an execution date, I’m ready to be with my children, I’m ready to be with God,” he said.
Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz described the murders as among the most horrific cases he had encountered during his career.
The scheduled November 12 execution will mark the latest chapter in a case that has remained a painful reminder of the deaths of three innocent children more than 23 years ago
