Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion
In 1989, Billie pled guilty to triple murder and has been languishing on Death Row ever since. Now 70 years old, Billie is fighting for a last-minute stay of execution … if it fails, he is set to become the oldest man put to death in Texas for over 100 years.
and delving into his family life and build a picture of what a kind of men billie was back in 1989 .
find out why Billie Wayne committed these senseless murders
Relatives say the motive was revenge, a 40 year old man out on bond went on a shooting ramapge ,killing three of his on-laws.
On the 29th of august 1989,billy coble drove to the small town of axtel in central Texas
he was on the hunt for his estranged wife karen who who was threatening to divorce him
when billy arrived at karen’s , she wasn’t home.
instead he would end up killing her brother
and karens parents
The bloody night came to a violent end when the suspect crashed his car some 60 miles away, his in custody and murder charges are pending.
at the time of the murders the time of the murders karen´s family lived on the same street.
J.R karens nephew was 11 at the time of the vicious attack. him and his cousin,who’s around the same age as him ,heather.were on the school busand they JR didnt get off the bus at his house,because he knew that his dead would be at work so he got off the bus and went to his aun’ts house .and he remember going to the house and bill was there in the house waiting
J.R says that billie use some rope or something and tied them all to the bed pose, kike with their hand beind their back and then he put duct tape on their heather and JR’s mouth.
Now billy left the children tied up .and headed off to ambush
and kill bobby vicha, JR’s father.
Judge Ralph strother was the prosecutor at billy coble’s trial .
bobby had been a waco police officer and he’d gotten off work that day and gotten home and was doing working around his ranch and billy wayne coble caught bobby out in the open there
and was able to wrestle his service revolver away from him , put it right under his neck and practically decapitated him when he shot him.
billie shot and killed J.R’s dad that day and came back to the house were everyone was all children was tied up .
J.R notice that billie kept kind of bragging how he was going to be on America’s most wanted
by these time J.R’s father and grandfather were already dead .but bille wasn’t finished.
he went back across the street to the home of J.R’s grandmother Zelda. he waited until mrs vicha had come home from work and he gunned her down ambus her right there . she never knew what happpened.
having savagely murdered three members of J.R’s family ,billie set a sight on he’s estrange wife and kidnapping her in his car.
against the the odds both billy and karen survived .even after the wreck billie was bragging at the hospital to nurses quote:
” do you know i killed three people.”
he didn’t seem to be affected by the fact that he’d just killed Jr’s father.
the cobel case was one of the most brutal of any ralph strother ,the prosecutor ever handled
” he’s a cold blooded – killer , he’s evil and he deserves to die”
– ralph strother , prosecutor.
Huntsville, Texas,a small rural town that’s home to America’s busiest executtion chamber.Since the death penalty was reintroduce in 1976 the state of Texas has executed 559 people .
and billy wayne coble is set to be next in just six days.
billie coble at age 70 is scheduled to be the oldest man to be executed in Texas during the modern era of the death penalty
the murders of waco police officer bobby vicha and his two parents rocked the central Texas community.
in the short time left those affected by this case. still asking why.on the 29th of august 1989 a day that seemed like any other .
billie ruthlessly murdered his three in-laws and kidnapped his his estranged wife karen
karen was billies third wife and they married in 1988. karen worked at a jewelry store and billie at a local drive. in movie.theather .
after less than a year of marriage karen asked for a divorce ,the alleged trigger for the gruesome crimes against the vicha family.
billies four years of serivice in the vietnam war were mentioned in his first trial but no link was established between this and the lingering psychiatric issues he experienced om his returned home.Now his lawyer is appealing for a last minute stay of execution
On the basis billie suffers from post -traumatic stress syndrom.
billie served in vietnam at the same time as his best friend james steele.
billie was in the marines.when the wae ended in 1975 the number of men in amercan prison system with military background rose sharply.
it picked in 1985 when more than one in five inmates was a veteran.
” he could have flashed backfrom vietnamn ,i don’t know but knowing billie like i knew him something bad had to happen for him to do what he did. becaue billie wayen wasn’t that person .”
-james steele
but what if billys younger life,billies father died when he was only three months oldhis mother was mentally ill and was removed to an institution when billy was seven.
he spent the rest of his childhood in a care home alongside james.
” i’m pretty sure billy missed out on love , when he was a child when your parents aint’ there and they don’t want you, that’ll work on your head”
-James steel
with his first wife ,billie had a son Gordon.
“billie wayne wanted to be a daddy, i mean a good daddy and he was he coach kids and in baseball and just do what fathers should do. spend time with their kids.”
– james steele.
(last interviewwith susanna reid ( our life) ,broadcast 20 jun 2019.)
” when my son was younger , no matter where i was, no matter what i was doing i would like to have my son with me, i tried to always make sure he knew that i always loved him and i always wanted to be with him and i wantetd him to be the best he could be.”
-billie wayne coble
and what about gordon?
” it’s probably much harder on him, and to cope with this”
– billie wayne coble.
and try to understand how a man who claims to adore his child could also slaughter three innocent people
billie’s son gordon was 14 at the time of the murders . he´s now married with two grown sons of his own
” when all that happened with my father …it was hard times. a lot of people didn’t realize, things they say and words they say can really really affect people. there’s no winners in any of this “
-gordon coble.
gordon’s sons have grown up only seeing their grandfarher behind bars
“we put our hands up to the glass and then …that’s how we say Hi and goodby.but i wish i could hug him, i wish i could do a lot of things with him ,but i can’t.”
there’s now just days until billie coble faces death by lethal injection and gordon ony has two more chances to spend time with his father.
” it’s not gonna be easy. i know it’s defenitely hard to sit there and watch your father and be put to death….no one should have to go through that”
– gordon coble.
outskirts of huntsville Texas a place that holds an average of one execution a month.
and what do the citizen’s think about huntsville being the death penalty capital of america?
” i’m okay with it.honestly i do support lethal injection
-citizen of huntsville.
supporting it is one thing,but it actually been taking place 15 minutes away.is kind of a slightly chilling thought that it happens so close and if you’re directly connected to the case ,it’s a horrible thought .
” that’s probably why i support the death penalty is because i had it happen in my family, somebody they were brutally murdered, stabbed over 20 times and it was a regular customer at a convenience store who came in every day and ordered a cup of coffe and she give it to him and he just lost it one day. if you taking a life without reason then it´s wrong”
– citixen of huntsville.
“it’s a very odd thought that billy coble will be put to death nearby, for billy coble’s family and the family of his victims, it’s life- changing. and yet it’s just part of the farbric of the life of this death chamber town”
-susann reid.
huntsvile is a farily tyical college town, exept over a quarter of its residents are behind bars
and huntsville’s seven prisons are the lifeblood as the area’s biggest employer.that’s the walls unite and that’s where the death chamber is.
billie will die in this prison . that sits just off the town’s main street.
and it’s a really chilling feeling knowing what happens there and what’s about to happen there.
he’ll wait out his final hours in a small bleak cell
known as the death house
just feet from the chamber
from 1924 the state used this electric chair for excectutions nicknamed old sparky,it was built by prison workers
and killed 361 inmates during its 40 years of use
now Texas uses lethal injection widely considered to be more humane
a representive of the state witnesses every execution.
Robert hurst has seen around 40.
once he’s got to huntsville unit what will happen to billie then?
” a team of our security officers will escort to the execution chamber ,he is than placed on the gurney tied down and the intravenous line is placed into his arm and he is prepared for the leathel injection
– robert hurst
and hwo administers the injection?
” there is a team behind a one-way window mirror, they’re the team that administers the injection.”
– robert hurst.
most states use a three -drug cocktail in their executions . but after a nationwide shortage in 2012 Texas switched to a single dose method.
now they use the sedative pentobarbital. the state currently has 10 doses stockpiled and billie wuill be injected with one of them.
and how lond will it take for billie to die after the injection is administered?
“i’ve seen some executions where an offender is pronounced dead within about 10 to 12 minutes,i´ve also seen some execution where the offender is not pronounced dead until somethimes 35-40 minutes later ”
– Robert Hurst
As the state prepares for billies execution ,life around huntsville carries on as usual
and how would a sitizen describe execution day in huntsvill?
“it’s a normal day.normal day.”
-citizen.
and what is the opinion on death penalty?is that something this women support?
” absolutely ,yes.
– citizen
the death penalty is expensive,longer trials and increased legal fees cost taxpayers here an average of 2.3million dollars per case . around three times more than housing an inmate in prison for 40 years.
” this town has been a prison town for years and years and the people here knows what happens and it doesn’t really have an effect on the day- to day life here . no.
– citizen.
and it doesn´t make you fell uncomfortable?
” does not “
– citizen.
so , just another day.?
” yeah, you do the crime ,you pay”
-citizen
“before billie i really didn’t think about death penalty, but it’s different when it’s somebody you know,somebody you love ,it makes you think and now i can see both side of it .”
-James Steele.
Billie coble waited for his death for 28 years ,that’s almost double the national average
he spent the past decade living in solitary confinement 22 hours a day, seven days a week.
” people treat dogs better than that,could you imagine living in 8 by10 cage the rest of your life .he said the only time he touched human hands is when they handcuffed him, that ain’t right .”
-james steele
but many feel the rights that really matter in this case are those of the victim’s
and billie’s execution will be justice for the vichar’s family.
billie’s son ,Gordon, daughter – in law nelley and their sons are facing the reality
that unless his appeal for a stay of execution is successful these next few days will be billies last
” i just try to be there for them all, especially the boys because that’s their grandpa.”
– nelley coble.
” he’s done wrong and i understand that and im not excusing that one bit my father knows that was wrong, let him live out his days in the prison cell, to me it don’t make a lick of sense to take another life.
– Gordon coble.
gordon is going through his own kind of hell now though
“It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, lets hope i can be strong for him ,and be there for him, i pray everyday that phone call comes and he gets a stay”
– Gordon coble.
you kind of feel enormous sympathy for the family , none of them are responsible for the crimes of their father ,their grandfather .and yet they’re experiencing the effects of those crimes
non of this changes the fact that on that dreadful august day in 1989 billie coble took a gun and went to murdered bobby vicha and his estranged wife’s parents .
they’re the innocent victims in this horror story and their trauma has lasted 30 years.
the state of Texas as refused to delay billy wayne coble’s execution. now his last and final hope is the supreme court and their verdictwon’t be reached until the 11th hour.
” if am here the on march the 1st, then i will try to be a better person”
– billie coble.
and what do you feel about your son being there to witness your last moments ?
” i want him to be there for himself but to me,no.i’d really wish nobody be there , i mean you have to remember the person not the body.”
– billie coble.
billie wayn coble will have woken up this morning knowing that it’s his last day.and right now is the last chance for gordon to spend a few hours with his dad.
they have a final hope resting with the U.S supreme court who could issue a stay of execution right up to the last minute.
so they can be closer to him billies family is spending time at the hospitality house, a charity for families of the incarcerated
” i’m hoping for the best ,it’s just real hard, a lot of emotions ,a lot of hope, a lot of ups and downs,it’s just all over the place. he told me he loved me.we had a good visit ,we laughed , we talked ,we remembered old times.”
– gordon coble.
” he wished he wasn’t locked up in there and we could get in a truck with him,just drive away and have fun”
-hunter coble.
well whatever you think about what gordon’s father has done is impossible not to feel compassion for gordon and his family.
By noon billie’s final visits with friends and family are over .
his now being prepared to be transported the 40 miles west from livingston to the walls unit prison.
media outside the wall unite.
a crowd has gathered ouside the wall unit in anticipation of tonight’s event.
“once again Texas will commit murder behind these reed brick wall”
-protester.
so this is where it could all end for billy coble his life hangs by a thread but he has one last hope today ,that the U.S supreme court will grant a stay of execution.
it’s just a couple of hours until the scheduled execution so what happens in the next two hours
” for the next two hours the offender ,who is here in the holding cell behind me has the opportunity to talk on the phone with folks meet with attorneys.
sometime in the next 15- ish,minutes or so he’ll be served final meal, which is actaully whatever it is that’s on the menu for today at this unit.
we’re in constant communication with the courts and the governor’s office at some point once we receive the sign off that all the appeals have been exhausted then the process would begin
the death warrants activeat 6 pm.”
– Jeremy Desel
it’s just coming to five o’clock in the afternoon and the U.S supreme court has just posted on their website .
” the application for stay of execution of sentence of death is denied.”
that was billie coble’s last chance and it’s gone which means he will be executed in just over an hour’s time.
a group of waco police officers and veterans have come to salute the family of their murdered colleague bobby vicha.
and what the significant about billie being executed what will it bring for J.R vicha?
“first of all , i think he deserves it,i think it’s very important that he doesn’t get to choose how he dies ,because my grandparents and my dad didn’t . he took that away from them , so i think he should go through the same mental anguish knowing he’s about to die. i hope he’s going through that right now .”
– J.R vicha, karens newphew.
time as now run out for billy wayne .
the coble family are called in for his final moments
by 6 pm the death warrant is active between now and midnight .
billy coble is set to die.
the executin is going ahead right now .
6:13 pm
the lethal injection of pentobarbital should now be taking effect.
” this is what they did to me.they kicked me in the head and beat me up”
-gordon
clearly there’s been some kind of confrontation ,gordon and his son dalton have been handcuffed and led away shouting, screaming extremely and distressed.
Gordon was finding it very hard .anticipating the the execution of his farther . obviously something went terribly wrong in in ther for the coble family
and nelley also in handcuffs.
” the state of Texas as executed billie coble inmate number 976, he did provide a final statement” yes sir ,thet will be five dollar , i love you ,i love you and i love you and take care”
– Jeremy Desel .
and why was Gordon led away?
Coble met his faith by lethal injection, prounounce dead at 6.24 . pm
karen vicha was inside to witness billie wayne coble taking his last breath.
” all he did was..he was standing there and i was holding on to him,and then he immediately started crying and going to the wawll screamming ” dad dont’ leave me, dad don’t leave me .they did nothing wrong, it was a natural emotion, i mean, his dad just got exececuted , what do you expect him to do?”
– nelley
it’s all come to an end , not sure whether the vicha family feel closure the coble famly clearly in great distress.
and for hutnsville the walls unit closes it’s doors and it’s on with another day .
the ececution of one man the ending of his life,just a fact of life here and there’ll be another one next month.
” i talked to him, a good hour on the phone , and it was just like talking to him,like we been talking everyday he didn’t show no fear no change in in his voice or nothing and he said ,’ you may not understand this but i’m at peace and i’´m happy’
and now more after i think about it, the way he was caged up like that i can understand he was probably ready to go. i ‘ll always love him whaever he did”
-James steele
