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Rib-eye steak, baked potato, lemon meringue pie and Coca-Cola; this was Oscar Ray Bolin’s last meal before he was executed in January.

Oscar had spent 30 years on death row for killing three women in 1986. He protested his innocence to the very end, but a last-ditch appeal to save his life was rejected.

"I did not murder these women," he told local media the day before his death. "My conscience is clear."

While arguments raged about the ethics of using the lethal injection on the guilty, there was no doubt that three young female victims deserved to be remembered.

They’d suffered unimaginable fear and pain during their abductions and brutal murders, and while their families fought tirelessly for more than a decade for justice, Oscar played the legal system and even got married.

In January 1986, Natalie Holley, 25, was abducted one night after leaving a fried chicken restaurant in Tampa, Florida, where she worked as the manager. The next day, a jogger found her body dumped in woodland. She’d been brutally stabbed to death and the police launched a murder inquiry.

(Image: Police handout)

Ten months later, Stephanie Collins, 17, disappeared from a shopping centre car park. Weeks later her battered body was found in Hillsborough County, Florida. She was wrapped in sheets and had blunt force head injuries.

On the very same day she was found, police discovered the body of Terri Lynn Matthews, 26, by a railway line in Pasco County, Florida. She’d been abducted the night before from a post office where her car was found with the engine still running. The post she’d collected was scattered on the ground. Terri had been beaten, raped and stabbed – and was also wrapped in sheets.

With three women snatched and killed in the same way, the authorities knew there was a serial killer on the loose, but it took four years and a betrayal of trust before anyone was charged with the murders.

In 1990 Police received an anonymous tip on a phone line, pointing the finger at Oscar Ray Bolin. There was no need for a manhunt – he was already in prison serving a 75-year sentence for kidnapping and raping a waitress who worked at a truck stop cafe in 1987.

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It later transpired that the call was from the new husband of Oscar’s

ex-wife Cheryl – a woman Oscar had confessed all three killings to.

Oscar was a former carnival worker, and long distance truck driver. There was a record of his car being near Natalie Holley’s abandoned vehicle at the time of her disappearance.

Another key witness came forward and testified against him in court. Oscar’s half-brother Phillip Bolin said he’d seen him beating a woman wrapped in a sheet. Oscar had claimed it was a woman who had been shot in a drug deal gone wrong.

Phillip also said he’d watched Oscar try to drown the woman with a hose and beat her with a club. That woman turned out to be Terri Matthews.

Oscar’s wife Cheryl, who is now deceased, also testified against her ex-husband.

Convicted

In July 1991, Oscar was convicted of Natalie Holley’s murder. Three months later he was found guilty of murdering Stephanie Collins and, in 1992, guilty of murdering Terri Matthews too. He was given life, and the death sentence for Terri’s murder.

(Image: Police handout)

But over the next two decades, all three convictions were overturned at least twice due to legal errors, and it dragged out the suffering of the victims’ families. Oscar claimed his ex-wife’s testimony wasn’t admissible in court because their conversation was his ‘spousal privilege’ and it had been violated.

There was also another convict who had confessed to the crimes before committing suicide, and a forensic officer who’d handled evidence that had been later disqualified. But despite Oscar facing 10 more juries, each one found him guilty.

By 2005 he was re-convicted of all three murders and the death sentence for Terri Matthews was upheld.

(Image: Police handout)

Oscar managed to remain in the spotlight for decades with his legal battles and, incredibly, his love life. While in prison, Oscar started dating Rosalie Martinez, a paralegal on his defence team.

Rosalie had been married to a prominent attorney when she met Oscar, but she divorced him to marry the convict on live TV in 1996 to an audience of 12 million. They remained together until his death and Rosalie insists she never thought he was guilty, and campaigns for

the end of the death penalty.

In January this year, Oscar filed a last-minute appeal, but it was denied. On January 7, he spent three hours with his wife then ate his last meal.

Then he was taken to the room where more than 30 witnesses, including the victims’ families, were waiting out of sight.

Moments before the execution, Oscar was asked if he had any last words. "No sir," he replied. At 10.16pm, he died after being administered a lethal injection.

(Image: Fox 13)

Terri and Stephanie’s mothers were there to see Oscar die. They’d stuck together through 10 trials – along with Natalie’s mum, who has since passed away. Their bond was like no other. They shared the pain of losing daughters and the agony of his constant denial which led to years of sitting in courtrooms.

The day before Oscar died he gave an interview with Fox 13 News claiming he’d been framed. Oscar said evidence had been tampered with and planted.

"I did not murder these women," he said. "My conscience is clear. Florida’s just killing me, [the families] are not getting any peace by executing me tomorrow."

But the victims’ loved ones say they have found peace. They’ve expressed their relief that their ordeal is finally over, and although the punishment of death legally was just for Terri’s murder, they agreed Oscar had died "for all our girls".

Oscar denied his three young victims the chance of a future so the law took away his.