Kenneth Biros was Put to Death in the First U.S. Execution to Use a Single Drug Injection. Part 3: The Trial

She told him that her home was in Hubbard, Ohio, but would not say exactly where she lived. Biros decided to take Tami to his home to let her "sleep it off." He testified that he decided on his way home to drive along the gravel railroad bed, which would have taken him to within a few hundred feet of his residence on King Graves Road. While driving on the railroad bed, he reached over and grabbed Tami's hand to wake her. Tami suddenly awoke, looked at him, and began yelling, "I don't know you. Where are we at?" She hit and yelled at him. Biros forcibly struck Tami with his forearm.

Tami then fled from the vehicle and took off running along the railroad tracks. Biros claimed that he drove along the railroad tracks to try to head Tami off to speak with her. According to Biros, he inadvertently struck Tami with the vehicle, causing her to topple over the car at a 45 degree angle with her head positioned toward the gravel railroad bed. He testified that he got out of the car and rolled Tami over onto her back. She was bleeding and her head was positioned against the steel rail of the railroad track. Tami pushed him and began screaming, swearing, and throwing rocks. Biros decided to pull out his pocketknife to "calm" Tami down. Tami grabbed the knife and a struggle ensued. Biros cut had his hand but was able to regain control of the knife. Meanwhile, Tami continued to scream. He pinned Tami down and placed his hand over her mouth until she stopped struggling. When Biros removed his hand from Tami's mouth, he realized that she had died.

Biros then became upset and frustrated, so he stabbed her several times. Biros testified that after he had killed and stabbed Tami, he "panicked," drove home, tended to his wounds, and washed his clothes. Biros returned to the body fifteen to twenty minutes later and became very angry, believing that Tami had "just destroyed my life."

Biros took his pocketknife and began cutting Tami's body. He claimed that he removed Tami's clothes because they were "in the way." He dragged the body some distance into the woods, and felt Tami's ring cutting into his left hand. He removed the ring and placed it in his pocket. He attempted to bury Tami's body in a shallow hole in the ground, but that the body would not fit into the hole. At that time he amputated her the head and leg with his pocketknife and placed those body parts in a separate hole. Biros then placed Tami's clothes in other holes in the ground.

After burying the body, Biros returned home. Later on Friday morning, February 8, 1991, he found Tami's purse in his car and burned the purse in the fireplace. He then washed his car. On Friday night, Biros decided to move the body, since he had been confronted and threatened by Tami's relatives. Late that night, while his brother was watching television, Biros retrieved Tami's body parts, loaded them into the car, and drove to Pennsylvania and disposed of the body.

Biros lied to police, to Tami's relatives, and to his own mother. At trial, Biros denied telling police at the Brookfield Township Police Department that while he and Tami were seated in the car, he had placed his hand on Tami's hand and then "went further" and touched or felt her leg. Biros denied having had any sexual intentions toward Tami, but admitted cutting out her vagina and rectum 30 to 45 minutes after he killed her.

Biros was able to recall some of the most minute details of the night in question, but was unable to remember where he had disposed of Tami's anus, rectum, and sexual organs. He also denied having had any intention of stealing Tami's property, but he admitted burying her clothes, taking her ring, and burning her purse.

Additionally, Biros admitted lying to his mother about Tami's ring and later hiding that ring in the ceiling of his house. Biros testified that he had no intention to kill or harm Tami on the night in question. He testified further that he never struck Tami with his fists or with the blunt end of a knife.

Dr. Karle Williams, a forensic pathologist, testified for the defense. Williams was not present during Tami's autopsy and never personally examined the body. Williams based his opinions upon a review of, among other things, Dr. Cox's autopsy report and a review of numerous photographs of the victim and the crime scene. Williams disagreed, at least in part, with Cox's conclusion that Tami had suffered a severe beating. Williams believed that perhaps Tami's right leg had been fractured before death and that some of her injuries may have been caused by being struck by a car and falling or lying on the gravel railroad bed. Additionally, Williams concluded that Tami might have died due to suffocation rather than manual strangulation. However, Williams admitted on cross-examination that, in this case, "you have to think of manual strangulation. Absolutely." The jury found Biros guilty of all charges and specifications alleged in the indictment, with the exception of the offense charged in Count Three of the indictment, which had previously been dismissed by the prosecution. Following a mitigation hearing, the jury recommended that Biros be sentenced to death for the aggravated murder of Tami. The trial court accepted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Biros to death.

Tami Engstrom's sister Debi Heiss spoke at a press conference in December 2006 and urged members of the community to write letters to the Attorney General urging that Biros's clemency plea be rejected.

"Kenneth Biros beat, tortured, sexually assaulted, mutilated, dismembered and robbed Tami with no remorse. He has been given more humanity and mercy from the state than my sister ever had. It's time for justice to be served." Heiss said she and her mother, Mary Jane, and brother Tom plan to attend the execution. "I want to see him take his last breath," Heiss said. "I will feel a new spirit over my body."

Heiss, who also attended the parole board hearing in January 2007, said the murder of her sister has taken a horrible emotional and economic toll on her family, especially Engstrom's son, who is now 17. Debi Heiss said, "Tami was my sister and my best friend."

On Dec. 8, 2009, Kenneth Biros was put to death in an efficient 10 minutes in the first U.S. execution to use a single drug injection instead of the standard three-chemical combination that has come under legal attack because it can cause excruciating pain.

Biros, was pronounced dead shortly after one dose of sodium thiopental began flowing into his veins at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected his final appeal two hours earlier.