Suzanne Basso to Be Executed by State of Texas for Murder of Mentally-Impaired Man
Texas inmate Suzanne Basso is expected to be executed today for the 1998 murder of Louis "Buddy" Musso, a 59-year-old mentally impaired man. If the execution is carried out, Basso will only be the 14th woman executed by the United States since 1976.
Basso was found guilty of capital murder in 1999 after murdering and torturing Musso. According to reports, Basso and five other persons, including Basso's own son, were convicted for Musso's murder. Basso and Musso met in New Jersey at a church carnival and he soon left the state to be with Basso in Texas.
"She lured him to Texas with the idea they'd get married," prosecutor Colleen Barnett said. "She would pretend to be different things. One setting she would pretend to be blind. One setting she would pretend she couldn't walk. One setting she had the voice of a little girl."
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Basso was already married when she met Musso, who had the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, according to experts. She took over receiving his Social Security benefits once he moved to Texas. Testimony at her trial left Barnett shaken, given the extent of Musso's injuries.
Musso's body had been washed in a solution of bleach and pine cleaner and scrubbed with a wire brush. He had at least 17 cuts to his head, 28 cuts and cigarette burns on his back, bruises all over his body, a skull fracture, a fractured bone in his neck, 14 broken ribs and two dislocated vertebrae. This was all evidence of torture inflicted on the man by a group of people seemingly after his money.
"It was just horrible, horrible, horrible. When you talk about the death penalty, what the death penalty was made for, it was for a case like this," Barnett said.
Basso confessed to driving Musso's mutilated body to a nearby ditch, where it was discovered by a jogger a few days later. She became a suspect after reporting him missing after his body was found. Barnett said that she specifically wanted the death penalty for Basso, given that she was the "one in charge."
"Suzanne ran the show for sure. She was the one in charge. She directed them. She wanted the money," Barnett told ABC. "She's a heinous killer."
