Father of five James French, while hitchhiking across Texas in 1958, kidnapped and killed one of the drivers who gave him a lift, near Stroud, Oklahoma.
James Donald French was arrested and sentenced to life.
Not supporting the life in prison, but allegedly afraid to commit suicide, French strangled his cellmate, Eddie Lee Shelton, in 1961, apparently to compel the state to execute him, two counts of first-degree murder.
James French was executed by electrocution in Oklahoma on August 10, 1966, and his last words before execution to people presented:
“Hey fellows! How’s this for a headline? ‘French Fries’ “