HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man convicted of abducting, raping and killing a woman when both were 18 was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, prison officials said.

Ramiro Gonzales, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CDT following a chemical injection of pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, The Associated Press reported.

Gonzales was put to death in connection with the Jan. 14, 2001, death of Bridget Townsend, USA Today reported. Prosecutors said he kidnapped her from a home in Bandera County, located northwest of San Antonio, according to The Dallas Morning News. Gonzales took her to his family’s ranch in neighboring Medina County, where he sexually assaulted her and killed her, the newspaper reported.

In his final statement, Gonzales apologized to Townsend’s relatives.

“I can’t put into words the pain I have caused y’all, the hurt, what I took away that I cannot give back. I hope this apology is enough,” he said. “I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have this opportunity to apologize. I owe all of you my life and I hope one day you will forgive me.”

Gonzales was serving time for an unrelated assault in 2002 when he confessed to raping and killing Townsend and led police to her remains, according to the Texas Tribune. Gonzales received two life sentences for kidnapping and raping another woman when he led authorities to Townsend’s body in October 2022, The Dallas Morning News reported.

He took her to his family’s ranch in neighboring Medina County, where he sexually assaulted her and killed her.

Prosecutors said Gonzales fatally shot Townsend when she intervened while he allegedly tried to steal drugs at the home of her boyfriend, the newspaper reported. Her boyfriend was allegedly Gonzales’ drug dealer, according to court records.

Gonzales is the second inmate executed in Texas this year and the eighth nationally, USA Today reported.

He was originally scheduled to be executed on July 13, 2022, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted it two days before it was to be carried out, citing a state expert who said he gave incorrect testimony at trial, according to the newspaper. The expert originally said that Gonzales was a future danger to society.

Wednesday’s execution came approximately 90 minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court declined a defense plea to intervene, the AP reported.

The high court rejected arguments that he had taken responsibility for his actions

“He has earnestly devoted himself to self-improvement, contemplation, and prayer, and has grown into a mature, peaceful, kind, loving, and deeply religious adult. He acknowledges his responsibility for his crimes and has sought to atone for them and to seek redemption through his actions,” Gonzales’ lawyers wrote in their request to the Supreme Court, the AP reported.

On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected Gonzales’ request for leniency, according to the Tribune.

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