Kenneth Biros Put to Death in the First U.S. Execution to Use a Single Drug Injection. The Story: Part 1

On Thursday, February 7, 1991, at approximately 5:30 p.m., Tami Engstrom dropped off her one-year-old son at her friend's house before reporting to work at the Clover Bar in Hubbard, Ohio. Tami's mother worked with Tami at the Clover Bar. Tami arrived at work at 6:30 p.m. Later, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Tami had to leave work due to illness. Tami's mother relieved Tami so that she could go home early. However, instead of going directly home, Tami drove to the Nickelodeon Lounge in Masury, Ohio, to visit her uncle who was a regular patron at that tavern.

Tami arrived at the Nickelodeon at approximately 10:00 p.m. She was wearing a black leather coat, a sweater, black pants, black shoes, black stockings or socks, and a $1,200 diamond cluster ring she had purchased from a friend a few weeks earlier. She was also carrying a small gray purse, which, according to one witness, contained a significant amount of money. At the Nickelodeon, Tami had several drinks and spoke with her uncle and others. Kenneth Biros arrived at the Nickelodeon at approximately 11:00 p.m., having earlier participated in a drinking event sponsored by the Nickelodeon and other bars. Biros knew Tami's uncle but was a stranger to Tami.

By midnight, Tami had passed out, due to either sickness or intoxication, while seated at a table. She later fell off her chair and onto the floor. Her uncle and Biros helped Tami back into her seat. At approximately 1:00 a.m., when the bar was closing, Biros and her uncle assisted Tami outside to the parking lot. Tami insisted on driving herself home, but her uncle took Tami's car keys upon determining that she was too intoxicated to drive. According to her uncle, Biros then volunteered to take Tami for coffee to help sober her up.

Tami's uncle handed Tami her purse and noticed that she was wearing her leather coat. At approximately 1:15 a.m., Biros and Tami left the Nickelodeon in Biros's car. Tami's uncle remained at the bar after closing and waited for Biros to return with Tami. However, Biros never returned Tami to the Nickelodeon. Meanwhile, on February 7, at approximately 11:30 p.m., Tami's husband Andy went to the Clover Bar to deliver a gift he had bought for Tami. However, Tami's mother informed Andy that Tami had left work and had gone home sick.

Andy drove home and discovered that Tami was not there. Andy then asked the babysitter to continue watching Casey while he went out to search for Tami. At approximately 1:00 a.m., Andy spoke with Tami's sister who suggested that Tami might have gone to the Nickelodeon. At 1:10 a.m., Andy called the Nickelodeon and was told that Tami and her uncle had already left the bar. Andy then went to sleep, assuming that Tami would soon return home. When he awoke later that morning, he discovered that Tami was still missing. On Friday, February 8, 1991, at or about noon, Andy and a friend went to the Nickelodeon to pick up Tami's car, which had been left there overnight.

At some point, Andy learned that Biros had been the last person seen with Tami. Therefore, Andy drove to Biros' home and confronted Biros concerning Tami's whereabouts. Biros told Andy that after he and Tami had left the Nickelodeon to get coffee, he tapped her on the shoulder and she "freaked out, got out of the car and started running through these people's yards on Davis Street" in Sharon, Pennsylvania.

The location where Biros claimed that Tami had jumped from the vehicle was approximately three-tenths of a mile from the Nickelodeon. Andy told Biros that he had already contacted the police in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and that he intended to file a missing person's report with the Brookfield Township (Ohio) Police Department.

Andy told Biros that "if she don't turn up right fast, they are going to come looking for you, and it's going to be your ass." Throughout the day on Friday, February 8, Biros told a number of witnesses similar stories concerning Tami's disappearance. Specifically, he told Tami's mother, Tami's brother, Tami's uncles, her friends, acquaintances, and others, that after he had left the Nickelodeon with Tami, she woke up, became frightened, jumped from his vehicle and ran between houses near Carpenter's Towing or Carpenter's Garage on Davis Street in Sharon, Pennsylvania.

Biros also indicated that he had initially chased after Tami but that he had been unable to catch her. Biros told a number of these witnesses that he had abandoned the chase to avoid being caught while driving under the influence of alcohol. Several of the witnesses noticed fresh cuts or scratches on Biros's hands and a fresh wound over his right eye that had not been present the night before. Biros explained that he had cut his hands because he had been locked out of his house and had to break a window, and that he had obtained the cut above his eye while chopping wood. Tami's brother threatened to kill Biros if Tami had been hurt in any way. One of Tami's uncles told Biros that if Tami had been hurt, he would "rip your heart out."

Tami's mother told Biros, "if you put one scratch on my daughter, I will kill you." Biros tried to comfort her by telling her, "Don't worry. Your daughter is going to be just fine. You wait and see." On Friday evening, Biros helped Tami's relatives search the area in Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he claimed to have last seen Tami. Biros lived on King Graves Road in Brookfield Township, Ohio, with his mother and his brother. On Friday morning, February 8, Biros's mother found a gold ring on the bathroom floor. The next day, she asked Biros if he knew anything about the ring. Biros claimed to know nothing about it.

Biros told his mother that the ring appeared to be made of "cheap gold." When Biros's mother responded that the ring was not cheap, Biros suggested that perhaps it had belonged to the girl who jumped out of his car early Friday morning. Biros then took the ring and said that he would return it to the Nickelodeon. However, Biros never returned Tami's ring to the Nickelodeon. Rather, according to Biros, he hid the ring in the ceiling of his house.

On Friday night, Biros's brother was at home watching television while Biros was outside in a pasture behind the house. He went outside and called to Biros to see what he was doing. Biros responded that he was "watching stars." His brother then returned to the house and retired for the evening. On Saturday, February 9, Tami's family and friends spent hours searching for Tami in Sharon, Pennsylvania. They also searched a wooded area along the railroad tracks near Biros's home on King Graves Road. However, the search party was unable to uncover any clues concerning Tami's disappearance.

On Saturday afternoon, police called Biros's home and left a message requesting that he come to the police station for questioning. After receiving the message, Biros drove to the police station to discuss Tami's disappearance with Brookfield Township and Sharon, Pennsylvania police officers. Police informed Biros that he was not under arrest and that he was free to leave at any time.

During questioning, Biros reiterated the same basic story that he had previously told Tami's friends and relatives. Specifically, Biros told police that he had left the Nickelodeon with Tami in the early morning hours of February 8 to get coffee or food at some location in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Biros claimed that Tami had passed out in his vehicle after they left the Nickelodeon. Biros told police that he stopped at an automated teller machine to withdraw some money and, at that point, Tami woke up and insisted that Biros drive her back to the Nickelodeon. Biros told police that as he was driving on Davis Street in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Tami jumped from the vehicle and ran away.

When asked whether Tami's purse might have been left in his vehicle, Biros responded that he had thoroughly cleaned the vehicle and had found no purse. At some point during the interview, Captain John Klaric of the Sharon Police Department began questioning Biros's version of the story. Klaric suggested to Biros that perhaps Biros had made some sexual advance toward Tami, which, in turn, may have caused her to jump from the vehicle. Biros denied making any sexual advances.

Klaric also suggested that perhaps Biros had made some sexual advance and that Tami had jumped from the car and struck her head. Biros denied this as well. Upon further questioning, Klaric suggested that maybe an accident had occurred in which Tami had fallen out of the car and struck her head. At that point, Biros responded "yes," and admitted that he had done something "very bad." Klaric offered to speak with Biros alone. Biros agreed, and indicated that he wanted to speak with Klaric outside the presence of other police officers.

According to Klaric, after the other officers had left the room, Biros stated, "It's like you said, we were in the car together. We were out along the railroad tracks. I touched her on the hand. Then I went further. I either touched or felt her leg. She pushed my hand away. The car wasn't quite stopped. She opened the door and fell and struck her head on the tracks." Biros told Klaric that Tami was dead and that the incident had occurred along the railroad tracks near King Graves Road in Brookfield Township. At that time, police informed Biros of his Miranda rights.

After signing a written waiver of his Miranda rights, Biros repeated his story in the presence of Detective Rocky Fonce of the Brookfield Township Police Department. According to Fonce, Biros admitted that he had reached out and grabbed Tami while parked along the railroad tracks near his house on King Graves Road. Biros told Fonce that Tami had then jumped out of the vehicle, fell, struck her head on the metal part of the railroad track, and died. Biros told police that Tami's body was in Pennsylvania. When police asked Biros for the precise location of the body, Biros requested to speak with an attorney.

After Biros consulted with counsel, he agreed to show police the location of Tami's body. In the early morning hours of Sunday, February 10, 1991, Pennsylvania and Ohio authorities discovered several of Tami's severed body parts in a desolate wooded area of Butler County, Pennsylvania.

Police found other portions of Tami's body in a desolate wooded area of Venango County, Pennsylvania, approximately thirty miles north of the Butler site. Tami's head and right breast had been severed from her torso. Her right leg had been amputated just above the knee. The body was completely naked except for what appeared to be remnants of black leg stockings that had been purposely rolled down to the victim's feet or ankles. The torso had been cut open and the abdominal cavity was partially eviscerated. The anus, rectum, and all but a small portion of her sexual organs had been removed from the body and were never recovered by police.

(See Part 2: The Forensic Report & Part 3: The Trial)