JACKSON, Ga. -- The convicted serial killer known as the "Stocking Strangler" is still set to be executed on Thursday. The State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency to Carlton Gary on Wednesday.
Gary was sentenced to death in 1986 for the rapes and murders of Florence Scheible, Martha Thurmond and Kathleen Woodruff.
Over the course of six months, between 1977-78, a series of killing put residents of the affluent Wynnton neighborhood in Columbus, Ga. on edge.
Women between the ages of 55 and 89 became the target of nine rapes and seven strangulation deaths—sparking fear and sense of terror in the prosperous suburb.
Known as the “Steakhouse Bandit” for several robberies in South Carolina, Gary was arrested in 1984, when a pistol that was stolen from a home in the Wynnton area in October 1977 was linked to him. Prints from the crime scenes also connected him to the murders.
He was convicted and sentenced to death for three of the murders, rapes and burglaries. No one was ever convicted in the other rapes or stranglings that occurred in the same timeframe.
Gary's attorney, John Martin, says there is far too much doubt to conclude guilt to the point of a death sentence for his client.
PHOTOS | On death row: Carlton Gary, the 'Stocking Strangler'
A hearing was held on Wednesday to review Gary's bid for clemency. The board said its members had been reviewing case files for the past several weeks and had reviewed the application for clemency.
Gary is slated to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Ga.
After declining to request a final meal, Gary will be receiving the institutional tray consisting of grilled hamburger, hot dog, white beans, coleslaw and a grape drink, according to Georgia Department of Corrections.
In Georgia, the Parole Board has the sole constitutional authority to grant clemency in a death penalty case. The case could be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
