Washington (AFP) - A 66-year-old man convicted of the 1984 murder of an eight-year-old girl was executed by lethal injection in the US state of Arizona on Wednesday.
Frank Atwood was put to death at 10:16 am (1716 GMT) at Arizona State Prison in Florence, Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement.
Atwood was convicted in 1987 of kidnapping Vicki Lynne Hoskinson while she was riding her bicycle in Tucson, Arizona.
Her body was found in the desert seven months later.
Atwood had a choice between lethal injection and the gas chamber but declined to make a selection.
Lethal injection is the default method of execution in the state in the event an inmate does not choose.
Atwood's execution was the second conducted in the past month in Arizona.
Clarence Dixon, also 66, was executed on May 11 for the 1978 murder of a college student.
Dixon's execution was the first in the southwestern state since 2014.
There have been seven executions in the United States this year, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.
