Alabama executes Carey Grayson by nitrogen hypoxia

November 21, 2024 – MONTGOMERY, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) announced that the state of Alabama has successfully executed convicted murderer Carey Dale Grayson at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore on Thursday night.

Alabama has been on the cutting edge of successfully using nitrogen hypoxia to carry out executions. This was the third nitrogen hypoxia execution performed by the state. Grayson was convicted and unanimously sentenced to death for the murder of Vickie Deblieux in 1994.

"Over 30 years ago, Grayson and his accomplices brutally murdered a complete stranger and mutilated her body," AG Marshall said in a statement. "It takes a truly vicious monster to commit this kind of crime. Tonight, justice has been served."

"Some thirty years ago, Vicki DeBlieux's journey to her mother's house and ultimately, her life, were horrifically cut short because of Carey Grayson and three other men," said Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) in a statement. "She sensed something was wrong, attempted to escape, but instead, was brutally tortured and murdered. Even after her death, Mr. Grayson's crimes against Ms. DeBlieux were heinous, unimaginable, without an ounce of regard for human life and just unexplainably mean. An execution by nitrogen hypoxia bares no comparison to the death and dismemberment Ms. DeBlieux experienced. I pray for her loved ones that they may continue finding closure and healing."

"My prayer for Vickie's family is that they can find solace in the State of Alabama finally serving justice for their heartbreaking loss," said Marshall. "And my hope is that one day it will not take three decades to provide justice for other victims of violent crimes."

Attorney General Marshall cleared the execution to commence at 6:11 p.m.

Carey Grayson's time of death was 6:33 p.m.

On February 21, 1994, Vickie Deblieux, 37, was dropped off by a friend at I-59 near Chattanooga, Tennessee, planning to hitchhike to her mother's home in Louisiana. She was picked up at the Trussville exit in Jefferson County, Alabama, by four teenagers, Carey Grayson, Kenny Loggins, Trace Duncan, and Louis Mangione, who had been drinking alcohol and using drugs. They offered to take Deblieux to Louisiana, but instead they took her to a wooded area under the pretense of picking up another vehicle.

When they arrived to the wooded area, they exited the car and began drinking. Grayson and the others threw bottles at Deblieux, who began to run from them. They tackled her to the ground and began kicking her repeatedly. After realizing she was still alive, one of them stood on her throat, supported by Grayson until she gurgled blood and died.

Grayson and his accomplices then put Deblieux's body in the back of a pickup truck and took her and her luggage to Bald Rock Mountain. After removing her clothing and a ring, they abused her body and threw her off a cliff. Afterwards they drove to a car wash in Pell City to wash out the blood. They also rummaged through her luggage before they hid the luggage in the woods.

After dropping off Mangione at home, they returned to Black Rock Mountain where they mutilated Deblieux's body by stabbing and cutting her 180 times, removing part of a lung, and removing her fingers and thumbs. The next morning Grayson's girlfriend found the three of them asleep in the truck covered in mud and blood. He said they got blood on them from a dog.

Vickie Deblieux's body was found on February 26, 1994, by three rock climbers. A medical examiner found that almost every bone in her skull was fractured, every bone in her face was fractured at least once. Of her 180 postmortem stab wounds, she had two large incisions in her chest where her left lung was removed, and all of her fingers and thumbs were cut off.

At trial in January and February of 1996, Carey Grayson was convicted of capital murder. The jury unanimously recommended a sentence of death.

During litigation challenging Alabama's plan to carry out that sentence via lethal injection, Grayson argued that he should instead be executed by nitrogen hypoxia. Alabama has now successfully used that method of execution three times this year.