90 day stay of execution for killer of local teenager | News

SPENCER CO, IN (WFIE)- Convicted killer Roy Lee Ward has requested and has been granted a stay of execution.

He was scheduled to die next Tuesday.

Ward was on Death row for the 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne in her Dale, Indiana home. 

Stacy's younger sister called 911 after hearing her sister's screams. When law enforcement arrived they say Ward was standing in the doorway of the home, holding a knife.

The Indiana State Supreme Court had previously ordered his sentence to be carried out on December 11. 

In June, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling and the death penalty in the Ward case.