A man scheduled to be executed at six this evening is the father of a Quad Cities man kidnapped and killed last month. Two Davenport men arrested in Virginia are accused in the death of Charles Nixon and investigators say a burned body found near Mount Vernon Illinois November 26 is his.
Police made the connection while they were looking for next-of-kin. The dead man’s father, John -B- Nixon Senior, is on death row for a murder 20 years ago in Mississippi. John Nixon was convicted of killing a woman on contract for her ex-husband and two of his sons served time for helping him. They were released from prison and can’t be found, and authorities say the dead man from Davenport may never have known his father.
If he’s executed as scheduled tonight, John Nixon will be the oldest prisoner put to death since capital punishment resumed in the U.S. in 1976.