El Paso’s “Desert Serial Killer” to be executed

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- An El Paso man who's been on death row for over thirty years has a new execution date.

David Leonard Wood, who had been dubbed "The Desert Serial Killer," was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1992.

Wood was accused of murdering six young women and girls, whose bodies were found buried in a desert area of northeast El Paso in the summer of 1987.

He had been scheduled for execution in 2009, according to KVIA archives, but that was stayed by an appellate court days before it was supposed to happen after Wood's attorneys filed a motion to appeal based on claims that he was mentally retarded.

Wood has maintained his innocence, but his latest appeal, which asked for additional DNA testing and to recuse the trial judge, was denied by the Court of Criminal Appeals in May of this year, according to court records.

ABC-7 obtained a court order that was signed by a judge last week, setting his execution by lethal injection to take place in Huntsville, TX, on March 13, 2025.

Listen to the Borderland Crimes podcast episode posted in November of 2020 for more background on the case.