Peter Cantu Executed

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HUNTSVILLE (GaeaTimes.com)-Peter Anthony Cantu, the leader of gang members who raped and murdered Texas teenage girls Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena back in 1993 was executed last night. Peter Cantu spent 17 years on death row, almost 7 years longer than the average stay on a death row. It was the last of the executions related to the murder of two girls.

Peter Cantu, 35, was the leader of Black and White gang that was initiating a new member in a wooded area near T.C. Jester Park in June 1993. Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena walked through the woods that night on their way back home and they became the victims of six young men. Both the girls were brutally raped and then murdered and the details that emerged of the crimes horrified the entire city of Houston. The media reports that last night Peter Cantu died just eight minutes after the lethal injection was given to him. He gave no final statement and the witnesses say that he even showed no remorse for his crime.

Randy Ertman, the father of Jennifer Ertman said that Peter Cantu should have been hung outside the courthouse. Elizabeth Pena’s father Adolfo Pena expressed that Peter Cantu’s death was too good for him as he brought a violent and terrifying end to his daughter’s life. He said that the murderer died without pain whereas his daughter and Jennifer Ertman went through lot of pain when they were killed. He also added that Peter Cantu deserved to die and 17 years later he died which according to him was not soon enough. Andy Kahan, the former head of the Mayor’s Crime Victims office, who now holds a similar position with the Houston Police Department said that it has been a long journey and for the families of the victims it was an emotional roller coaster.