John Battaglia Executed for Brutally Murdering His Daughters | Crimes, Final Meal & Last Words
This is without a doubt one of the most disturbing cases among all executions carried out in the United States. Today I’m going to tell you the story of a man who was executed for murdering his two young daughters in a brutal way. John David Battaglia didn’t just commit an atrocious crime. He also showed complete coldness. He never expressed remorse and, in fact, his final words before being executed were meant as a mockery. But before we get to that final moment, let’s go back to the exact point where the path that led him to death row began.
Early Life and First Marriage
John David Battaglia grew up like many military children, constantly moving, changing states, and switching schools. He was born on August 2nd, 1955, on a military base in Enterprise, Alabama. And although his childhood was a happy one, it was always shaped by the demands of his father’s job. He spent time in Oregon where he finished high school and later settled in Dumont, New Jersey, where he graduated from the local school. After that, he enrolled at Fairleigh Dickinson University to continue his studies.
In his youth, he ran into legal trouble related to drugs and, pushed by his father, he decided to join the Marines. Within the military, he advanced quickly, eventually becoming a sergeant. But even at the height of a promising career, he felt that military life wasn’t fulfilling him. He left the uniform behind and went back to school hoping to become an accountant. Sometime later, he moved to Dallas where his father lived. There he took night classes until he became a certified public accountant.
In Dallas, Battaglia was seen as a respected man, socially pleasant, stable, and with a solid career. It was there that he met Michelle, a well-known attorney in the city. They married in 1985 and had a daughter, Christy. To everyone around them, they looked like the perfect family. Battaglia seemed affectionate with his wife and devoted to his daughter. But over time, that friendly facade began to fall apart. Without any clear reason, his personality changed and violence started to spread through the home.
For two years, Michelle endured physical abuse and constant harassment. One of the most serious incidents happened outside their daughter’s school where Battaglia attacked her uncontrollably. That moment became a turning point for Michelle, who decided to file for his arrest on assault charges. Battaglia’s reaction was even more violent. When he learned about the complaint, he confronted her at a bus stop and beat her so severely that she ended up in the hospital. The attack broke her nose and exposed the real danger he posed.
“Uh, I wouldn’t really call it attack. Went up to her as she’s walking down the sidewalk and I said, ‘You’re uh, you’re going to have to learn this lesson.’ And I just held her by the shoulder and I hit her head twice. And you know, she moved her head the wrong way and I snapped her nose. Well, the fact is she got me put in prison. She knows that the only way to keep from sending her front teeth flying on her [ __ ] is to have me behind this glass.”
By September 1986, Michelle had already begun the divorce process. And in 1987, Battaglia plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge, receiving two years of probation that would become the first official record of a pattern of domestic violence that would follow him for the rest of his life.
Second Marriage and Escalating Abuse
Despite this clear history of domestic violence, on April 6th, 1991, Battaglia remarried, this time to Mary Jean Pearl. During the early years, he came across as charming, generous, and fun. Everyone saw him as an exemplary man. Over time, the couple had two daughters, Mary Faith and Liberty Mae. But the story repeated itself.
As the years went by, Battaglia revealed the same pattern of abuse. Behind closed doors, he subjected Mary Jean to insults, humiliation, and constant manipulation. Throughout the nine years the marriage lasted, Battaglia slowly tore down her self-esteem. However, one detail in this case is especially disturbing. Despite the abuse he inflicted on both of his wives, Battaglia never showed violence toward his three daughters. On the contrary, he was affectionate with them and often said they were his best friends.
In January 1999, after years of verbal abuse, Mary Jean decided to separate from Battaglia. But the violence hadn’t ended. In fact, it was about to escalate. On December 24th, 1999, on Christmas Eve, during a visit to see Faith and Liberty, Battaglia brutally attacked Mary Jean. He did it in front of all three girls present: Faith, Liberty, and Christy, his daughter from his first marriage. He punched her in the face over and over—20 times, according to the report—and kicked her, leaving her covered in cuts and bruises. The girls, terrified, begged him to stop. The next day, Mary Jean filed a police report and requested an immediate divorce.
Battaglia plead guilty to misdemeanor assault and was given two years of probation. Despite the restraining order and the terms of his probation, Battaglia continued to violate the rules. His obsession with Mary Jean began to intensify in an alarming way. Around Easter of 2001, he called her to insult her, threaten her, and accuse her without any basis of being unfaithful. He even began convincing himself that his own daughters weren’t really his.
“Because you’re such a [ __ ]. Thanks for your help, G.”
In response, Mary Jean filed a complaint with his probation officer, reporting that Battaglia had left an abusive message on her answering machine.
The Murders of Faith and Liberty
On May 2nd, 2001, Battaglia learned that an arrest warrant had been issued for him for violating the terms of his probation. Police informed him that he needed to turn himself in. However, that same afternoon, he had a scheduled visitation with his daughters as part of the custody agreement. And that day, the worst would happen.
That afternoon, Battaglia picked up Faith, 9, and Liberty, 6, in the parking lot of a shopping center in Park Cities. Some relatives handed the girls over, unaware of what had happened earlier. The visit was supposed to be for dinner since, due to the restraining order, he couldn’t pick them up at their home. But instead of driving them to the shopping center, Battaglia went straight to his loft-style apartment in Dallas.
That day, Mary Jean was at a friend’s house. When she arrived, she was told that the girls wanted to talk to her because they were with their father. Alarmed, she called Battaglia’s apartment. He answered and put the call on speaker. Battaglia held the phone up to Faith. In an innocent and confused voice, the girl asked, “Mom, why do you want Daddy to go to jail?” Seconds later, Mary heard her daughter desperately pleading, “No, Daddy. Please don’t. Don’t do it.” Gunshots began echoing through the line. Mary screamed, begging her daughters to run. In total, she heard seven shots.
After the gunfire, Battaglia picked up the phone and in a cold and mocking tone told Mary, “Merry [ __ ] Christmas.” A cruel reference to the attack he had inflicted on her on Christmas Eve in 1999.
“And then I hear Faith going, ‘No, Daddy, please. Daddy, don’t do it. Daddy, please don’t do it.’ And I hear him yell, ‘Merry Christmas.'”
What happened inside the apartment was devastating. Battaglia told his daughters to come inside with him for dinner. They trusted him completely. Remember, he had never been violent toward them. But that afternoon, his behavior changed entirely.
In a sudden burst of rage, he forced them to call their mother and ask her why she wanted him sent to prison. While the girls were on the phone, he picked up a .357 Magnum Colt Python revolver and loaded it. The girls had their backs turned. When Faith looked over and saw him pointing the gun at them, she begged for her life. Battaglia ended the lives of his daughters. Faith was shot three times and Liberty five. When she heard the gunfire, Mary Jean immediately called 911.
“Oh, God… Okay… me and my answer to my baby and then…”
Minutes later, he left a message on his daughter’s bedroom answering machine: “Good night my little babies. You were very brave girls. I love you very much.”
After committing the murders, Battaglia went to a bar with his girlfriend and then to a tattoo studio where he had two red roses inked on his left arm in honor of Faith and Liberty.
“Good night, my little baby. I hope you’re resting in a different place. I love you. I wish that you had nothing to do with your mother. She was evil and stupidly.”
Police arrived at Battaglia’s apartment in the Deep Ellum area where they found the bodies of Faith and Liberty. Both showed multiple gunshot wounds. Inside the apartment, officers also found several firearms and in his truck, a fully loaded revolver. Hours after the double homicide, Battaglia was located at a nearby tattoo shop. When officers confronted him outside the building, they arrested him immediately. During the arrest, there was a struggle and Battaglia ended up with a black eye before being taken into custody.
“Oh, how did Faith and Liberty die? They said they died of gunshot wounds.” > “So there’s nothing about that that you remember?” > “Not particularly. No.”
The Trial and Years on Death Row
The capital murder trial against John David Battaglia began on April 22nd, 2002, at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas, and it quickly became one of the most shocking cases in the state. The prosecution, led by Howard Blackmon, presented a complete picture of the pattern of domestic violence Battaglia had exhibited for years, supported by the testimonies of his first wife, Michelle Getty, and of Mary Jean Pearl, who described in detail the brutal Christmas Eve attack of 1999.
The crime scene, especially the phone call in which Pearl heard her daughter’s screams, deeply affected the jury, which took only 19 minutes to find Battaglia guilty of capital murder. During the sentencing phase, the defense tried to avoid the death penalty by arguing that Battaglia suffered from bipolar disorder and a narcissistic personality disorder, supported by several forensic psychiatrists and testimonies from family members. Even so, the jury chose to impose the maximum penalty on April 30th, 2002.
Over the years, Battaglia sought multiple appeals, including a stay of execution in 2016 that was granted just seven hours before his scheduled death due to questions about his mental competency. However, by 2016, he had already exhausted most of his legal resources.
Eventually, Battaglia ran out of appeals. On October 31st, 2017, his execution order was signed, setting the date for February 1st, 2018. Throughout all his years on death row, his behavior was disturbing. He mocked the murder of his daughters, and when other inmates called him a child killer, he would respond that he hadn’t killed his daughters because they weren’t biological.
“Oh, yeah. I believe that I did not kill my daughters in the fact that they weren’t my biological daughters. They were my legal daughters. I guess there’s this distinction.”
The Execution
On February 1st, 2018, John David Battaglia was executed at the Huntsville Unit in Texas. He was 62 years old when he died and had spent nearly 16 years on death row. The execution was delayed more than three hours due to last-minute appeals to the US Supreme Court. It was scheduled for 6:00 p.m., but it did not begin until after 9:00 p.m.
That day, he woke up at 7:00 a.m. and received his final meal: fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, corn, and cornbread. According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Robert Clark, Battaglia remained in good spirits in the hours leading up to the execution.
When he was placed on the gurney, he initially said he had no final words. But when he saw Mary Jean Pearl among the witnesses, he changed his mind. He looked directly at her, smirked, and said, “Well, hi, Mary Jean. I’ll see y’all later. Bye.” Then turning to the guard, he added, “Go ahead, please.”
At 9:18 p.m., he was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital. Battaglia closed his eyes, looked upward, and seconds later opened them again, lifted his head, and laughed. “Am I still alive?” As the drug began to take effect, he said, “Oh, I feel it.” He exhaled twice, began snoring, and within seconds stopped moving.
The official time of death was recorded at 9:40 p.m., exactly 22 minutes after the lethal injection began. No signs of suffering were reported. After seeing Battaglia stop breathing, Mary Jean Pearl stepped away from the viewing window in tears. “I’ve seen enough of him,” she said before walking out. She returned a few minutes later to witness the doctor officially pronounce him dead.
“What are my feelings when the warden will come get me and take me to the gurney at the Huntsville Execution Chamber? So, I would imagine there’ll be a little bit of anxiety, but other than that, it’s probably a trip. I mean, how many people get to do that? It’ll be odd, but scary, I don’t think. I mean, what is there to be scared of? You know what’s going to happen. Except if they call the last minute and say, ‘No, don’t do it.’ And then you’re like, ‘Oh, I got to do this all over again.’ Cuz I’ve known guys who’ve done that four or five times and they just never are the same afterwards.”
What do you think about this monster? Was justice truly served in the case of John David Battaglia? Some believe his mental health history should have been considered differently. Others insist there is no possible excuse for what he did to his own daughters. Let me know your opinion in the comments.
