Time runs out for convicted murderer on Missouri death row

Mark Christeson (DOC photo)

This week, the state of Missouri performed its 88th execution by lethal injection. The entire process took 8 minutes before Mark Christeson was officially pronounced dead, ending a nearly 20 year long ordeal for the victim's family members.

In 1998, Christeson, then 18, and his 17 year old cousin Jesse Carter went to a residence near Vichy, Mo with intentions to steal a Ford Bronco from Susan Brouk when things went bad quickly.

Christeson raped Brouk with her 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in the house, and one of the children recognized Christeson- leading to the deaths of all three family members near a pond on their farm.

Both Christeson and Carter fled to California where they were apprehended 8 days later. In June, 1998, the venue was changed from Maries County to Vernon County due to a conflict of interest and vigilante threats from a motorcycle gang.

In exchange for his testimony, Carter was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Christeson had been incarcerated for the last 18 years, and had already received one postponement of execution.