Time Set For Execution Of Killer In Cobb County Girl's Murder: Officials

COBB COUNTY, GA — A time has been scheduled for the execution of a man convicted of killing an 8-year-old girl 46 years ago, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Virgil Delano Presnell Jr., 68, is scheduled to die at 7 p.m. May 17 by lethal injection at the state prison in Jackson, according to officials.

He was convicted in August 1976 of abducting and attacking two girls as they walked home from school in Cobb County, just outside Atlanta, on May 4, 1976. Presnell killed the 8-year-old girl and raped her 10-year-old friend.

According to officials, Presnell has requested a last meal of four hamburgers, four french fries, four sodas, two vanilla milkshakes, an eight-piece bucket of chicken, potato salad, and two pints of vanilla ice cream.

Presnell’s charges including malice murder, kidnapping and rape, and he was sentenced to death. In 1992, the death sentence was overturned, but it was reinstated in March 1999, reported WSB-TV.

According to court documents obtained by WAGA-TV, Presnell abducted the two girls as they walked home along a wooded trail from a Cobb County elementary school on May 3, 1976. He drove them to a secluded wooded area and raped the 10-year-old girl. The younger girl tried to run, but Presnell caught her and drowned her in a creek, the ruling says.

The 10-year-old victim was put in the trunk of his car and left in a wooded area when Presnell got a flat tire, reported WAGA-TV. The girl was able to escape and get help at a nearby gas station.

Police found him changing his tire at his apartment complex, reported the news station. Presnell denied the attacks at first, but then led police to the 8-year-old girl’s body and confessed, according to court documents, reported WAGA-TV.

On Tuesday, Presnell’s attorneys filed a lawsuit to delay next week's execution.

If executed, the Georgia man will be the 54th inmate in the state put to death by lethal injection. There are currently 37 men and one woman under the death sentence in Georgia.