Georgia carried out its 74th inmate execution late Wednesday. Ray “Jeff” Cromartie was executed for his role in an April 1994 South Georgia convenience store robbery that left a 50-year-old clerk dead.
According to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center, 1,507 men and women have been executed in the U.S. since the 1970s. Here is a look at 10 of the nation’s most notorious, infamous criminals who have been executed:
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CARLTON GARY: Gary was executed March 15, 2018, for murdering three elderly women in Columbus in the late 1970s. Known as the "Stocking Strangler," seven deaths were attributed to Gary even though he was ultimately tried for the murders of only three women. For seven months in 1977 and 1978, the murders paralyzed Columbus and terrorized older women living in the community. Photo: Ga. Dept. of Corrections
»RELATED: 15 high-profile executions in Georgia
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JOHN WAYNE GACY: One of the nation's most chilling mass murderers, Gacy was famous for dressing like a clown for children's events and fundraisers. He sexually assaulted and killed 33 young men between 1972 and 1978. He was sentenced to death for 12 of his murders and spent 14 years on Death Row. He was executed by lethal injection in 1994. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
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GARY GILMORE: Gilmore was sentenced to Death Row after killing a gas station attendant and then a motel manager. While on Death Row, he tried to kill himself twice but was eventually executed by a firing squad in 1977. Photo: Clark County Prosecutor's Office/Wikipedia/Fair Use
»RELATED: The faces of Georgia's Death Row
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TED BUNDY: Another infamous American mass murderer, Bundy kidnapped, raped and decapitated at least 30 people between 1974 and 1978. He was executed in 1989. Photo: AP/File
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TIMOTHY McVEIGH: In arguably one of the first known acts of domestic terrorism, McVeigh detonated a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The explosion killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection.
»MORE: Death row and the death penalty in Georgia
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ALBERT FISH: Known as the Gray Man, the Moon Maniac and the Boogey Man, Fish was a cannibal and murderer who once said his victims numbered into the hundreds. However, he was tried and convicted in only one murder, and died in the electric chair in Sing Sing Ossining, New York. Photo: Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain
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AILEEN WUORNOS: Immortalized by Charlize Theron in the 2003 film "Monster," Wuornos was arrested for killing seven men that she claimed had tried to rape her. She was executed by lethal injection in Florida in 2002. Photo: Florida Department of Corrections, Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain
»MORE: Who are Georgia's most notorious serial killers?
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BARBARA GRAHAM: Known as Bloody Babs, Graham was arrested for the murder of Mabel Monohan when she and two male accomplices attempted to rob Monohan. She was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin, California, in 1955. Photo: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain
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BRUNO HAUPTMANN: In what has been called "the crime of the century," Bruno Hauptmann kidnapped and murdered the child of American aviation hero Charles Lindbergh. He was executed in 1936 in the electric chair. Photo: Flemington Police Department, Wikipedia Commons
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ALLEN LEE DAVIS: Davis was executed for the 1982 murder of a Florida woman who was three months pregnant. Police reports said Nancy Weiler was "beaten almost beyond recognition" by Davis with a .357 Magnum and struck more than 25 times in the head. Davis was also convicted of killing the woman's two daughters. He was executed in 1999. Photo: Florida Department of Corrections, Wikipedia Commons, Public Domain
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