Chilling last words of inmate who was executed for killing dance student

An inmate made a chilling final statement as he was put to death over the murder of a promising dance student.

It happened nearly two decades after Anthony Sanchez was convicted of murdering Juli Busken, who’d been studying at the University of Oklahoma .

Juli was abducted from a parking lot at her apartment complex in 1996.

At the time, the 21-year-old had been in her final term at the University of Oklahoma.

Tragically, the promising ballerina’s body was found on December 20 near Lake Stanley Draper, Oklahoma City – devastating her loved ones and those on campus.

During the investigation, police found that the young woman had been bound, raped and shot in the head.

Getty Images/AFP/Oklahoma Department of Correctio/

Years later, Sanchez would be convicted of the horrific killing after his DNA matched sperm found at the crime scene.

At the time, he’d been in prison for a previous burglary conviction when the match was made.

In the lead-up to his execution, Sanchez’s new lawyer, Eric Allen, had requested a stay of execution to review evidence.

However, this was rejected by the Supreme Court with the 44-year-old being put to death on September 21.

It happened at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, with Sanchez thanking his spiritual advisor and the anti-death penalty group, Death Penalty Action, ahead of his execution.

As he was strapped to the gurney though, the convicted murderer protested his innocence and chillingly, he said: “I’m innocent… I didn’t kill nobody.”

Shortly after this, the lethal drugs were administered, with authorities only stepping into the death chamber to reattach an oxygen monitor that had malfunctioned.

Then at around 10:19 am, the 44-year-old was pronounced dead.

Getty/Shepard Sherbell

Speaking from death row earlier this year, Sanchez said: “That is false DNA. That is not my DNA. I’ve been saying that since day one.”

Attorney General Gentner Drummond denies this and in a statement said that there was ‘no conceivable doubt’ that Sanchez was guilty.

Sanchez is the third inmate to be put to death in the state this year, after Oklahoma made U-turn on the death penalty back in 2021.

Topics: Crime, US News, True crime

Katherine Sidnell

Katherine is an entertainment journalist with a love of all things nerdy. Starting out writing Doctor Who fan fiction as a kid, she has gone on to interview the likes of Matt Damon, James May and Dua Lipa to name a few. Published in The Sun, The Daily Mail and Evening Standard - she now joins Ladbible as resident nerd in chief.

@ksidnell