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Crime

On September 4th, 1977, 17-year-old Army soldier Christopher Burger and his fellow serviceman, 20-year-old Thomas Dean Stevens, were at a club in Wayne County, Georgia, when they ran out of money.

They decided to replenish their wallets by robbing a cab driver. They called a cab, but the driver had his friend riding a shotgun, so Burger and Stevens decided not to proceed.

Soon after that cab left, the two men got a call from their military squad leader, James Botsford. He wanted Burger and Stevens to pick him up from the airport.

Once again, the two men called a cab. This time, the driver, 20-year-old Roger Honeycutt, who was also a soldier, arrived alone.

After a short time, both men pulled knives and forced Honeycutt to pull over. They made him hand over $20 and forced him to get in the backseat with Stevens while Burger took over driving.

Stevens made Honeycutt strip; he tossed his clothes out the window, then violated him.

After Stevens had his fun, he and Burger tied Honeycutt up with the cord from his CB radio and put him in the trunk.

They went and picked up Botsford from the airport in the stolen vehicle. They told Botsford what they did to Honeycutt.

Stevens was talking about killing Honeycutt, but Botsford made the men promise they would let him go. Botsford was dropped off at Fort Stewart, but didn’t contact authorities or tell anyone that Honeycutt was in danger.

Stevens and Burger were hungry, so they bought sandwiches and milk at a store.

After they got back on the road, the two psychos saw a police car behind them; they got paranoid and pulled the cab into a wooded area.

Stevens removed the CB Radio, and the two men wiped their prints off the car. In one last act of cruelty, Burger opened the trunk and asked Honeycutt if he was ok. Honeycutt said he was.

Burger closed the trunk and drove the vehicle into a nearby pond; he jumped to safety just before it went in.

Burger and Stevens were able to catch another cab back to Fort Stewart.

The next day, they told Botsford that they freed Honeycutt, but when he heard news reports about the missing driver, he contacted authorities.

Investigation

Investigators brought Burger and Stevens in, and both men confessed. Stevens blamed Burger for the murder, saying that he did not know that Burger was planning to drive the vehicle into the pond.

The car was soon pulled from the water, and it had the weapons inside along with Honeycutts tied-up body. Authorities recovered Honeycutt’s clothing from the route the kidnappers drove on the night of the crime; they also recovered Honeycutts CB radio from the automobile of Burger’s mother-in-law.

Legal Proceedings

Both Burger and Stevens were convicted of murder at trial and sentenced to death.

Burger’s legal team fought for his life for the next 16 years. They claimed he was violated as a child and said that he should not be executed for something he did when he was 17 years old.

There were also claims he did not have adequate representation at trial, but none of that mattered.

Execution

At around 8:30 am on the morning of his December 7th, 1993 execution, Burger learned that his final appeals were turned down.

One person who visited with Burger later that day said he was “scared and visibly shaken.”

Later that night, the United States Supreme Court refused to grant a stay of execution, and the governor declined to intervene.

Burger was marched to the execution chamber and strapped in. When given the chance to speak, he said, “I’d like to say I’m sorry to anybody and everybody I’ve ever hurt. Please forgive me.”

The 33-year-old was injected with a mix of dangerous chemicals and was pronounced dead at 9:51 pm.

His accomplice, Stevens, was put to death months before him on June 29th, 1993.