Crime and surrender
In 1957, Kiefer, a Fort Wayne mechanic, murdered his wife, Pearl; he later claimed that he was sick of her criticizing his fishing and drinking habits. He bludgeoned her to death with a hammer before turning that hammer on his five-year-old daughter, Dorothy, when Dorothy approached him to try to break up the fight between her parents. After murdering them, Kiefer hacked their bodies with a knife and then left for Chicago with $3 from his wife's purse and some change from his daughter's piggy bank. Two days later, he returned to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and went to police headquarters to surrender.Trial and proceedings
Kiefer did not appear to show remorse for the murders of his wife and his daughter. He was charged with both the murders, but he only went to trial for his wife's murder. He was convicted in 1958 and sentenced to death. However, in 1958, the conviction was overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court, which noted that at his first trial, the jury was shown photographs of the slashed victims' bodies, and the jury was emotionally fueled by the photos to sentence Kiefer to death. Kiefer was sent to trial a second time and again sentenced to death.Execution
Kiefer's first death warrant decreed that he would be executed on January 31, 1961, but eight hours before that execution took place, the Indiana Supreme Court stayed the execution. His attorney filed an appeal, but the rest of the Supreme Court declined to consider it, and the then-Governor of Indiana,References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiefer, Richard E. 1921 births 1961 deaths 1957 murders in the United States American murderers of children American people executed for murder 20th-century executions of American people 20th-century executions by Indiana People executed by Indiana by electric chair People convicted of murder by Indiana Familicides People from Fort Wayne, Indiana