strangled her to death with a belt. He then covered her face with a cloth before fleeing. Capture, confession, and trial In January 1978, Otey was arrested in Tampa, Florida. On January 28, 1978, he was interviewed by two Omaha detectives, where he reportedly gave a voluntary statement which was a full confession to the rape and murder of McManus. He recounted the crime in graphic detail at the time of his arrest. However, Otey later recanted his confession and claimed it had been coerced. He confessed to other crimes including attempted rapes but claimed the interviewing detectives had fed him details of the McManus murder and forced him to answer questions while he was under duress. On April 13, 1978, Otey was convicted of first degree murder in Douglas County District Court. On June 20, 1978, a three-judge panel sentenced him to death. On December 18, 1979, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence. Otey continued to maintain his innocence. In June 1991, during an interview with the Associated Press, Otey said he gave the confession because he did not want to face Southern justice. He claimed an officer had told him that efforts were being made to connect him to an additional thirteen or fourteen murders in Florida. Execution On September 2, 1994, Otey was executed in the electric chair at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln, Nebraska. He had requested a last meal of spaghetti, the same meal eaten by the other inmates, however, when the time came, he refused it. He declined to make a final statement. He was the first person to be executed in Nebraska since the 1959 execution of Charles Starkweather. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Otey was the first person to be executed in Nebraska, and the 250th in the United States. See also Capital punishment in Nebraska Capital punishment in the United States List of people executed in Nebraska References 1951 births 1994 deaths 20th-century African-American people 20th-century executions by Nebraska 20th-century executions of American people American people convicted of murder Criminals from Nebraska Executed African-American people People convicted of murder by Nebraska People executed by Nebraska by electric chair People executed for murder People from Long Branch, New Jersey