{{Short description|American child murderer, serial rapist, and suspected serial killer}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2018}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = Robert Anthony Buell | image = Robert Anthony Buell.jpg | caption = Mugshot taken on October 13, 2000 | birthname = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1940|9|10}} | birth_place = [[Norwood, Ohio]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|9|25|1940|9|10}} | location = | death_place = [[Southern Ohio Correctional Facility]], Ohio, U.S. | country = United States | states = [[Ohio]] | beginyear = 1981 | endyear = 1983 | victims = 2–3 | apprehended = 1984 | sentence = [[Capital punishment in Ohio|Death]] | conviction = [[Murder|Aggravated murder]]<br>[[Kidnapping]] (3 counts)<br>[[Rape]] (3 counts)<br>[[Sexual assault|Felonious sexual penetration]] (3 counts)<br>[[Felonious assault]] (2 counts) | criminal_status = [[Executed]] by [[lethal injection]] }}
'''Robert Anthony Buell''' (September 10, 1940 – September 25, 2002) was an American child murderer, [[serial rapist]], and former planning department worker from [[Akron, Ohio]]. He was convicted of the July 17, 1982 murder of 11-year-old [[Murder of Krista Harrison|Krista Lea Harrison]].<ref name=Clark>{{cite web|title=Robert Anthony Buell #801|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/buell801.htm|publisher=ClarkProsecutor.org|accessdate=May 31, 2012}}</ref>
Buell was executed by [[lethal injection]] on September 25, 2002. His final meal was a single black unpitted olive.<ref name=Clark/> In 2010, eight years after his death, he was found to have also raped and murdered 12-year-old [[Murder of Tina Harmon|Tina Marie Harmon]] in 1981.<ref>{{cite web |title=ExecutedToday.com » 2002: Robert Anthony Buell |date=September 24, 2019 |url=http://www.executedtoday.com/2019/09/24/2002-robert-anthony-buell/ |accessdate=24 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
== Murder cases == [[File:Buell Sketch.jpg|left|thumb|Police sketch of Buell at the time of Krista Harrison's abduction on July 17, 1982]] {{main|Murder of Krista Harrison}}
On July 17, 1982, Buell was reportedly seen abducting [[Murder of Krista Harrison|Krista Harrison]] in a park in [[Marshallville, Ohio]]. Harrison's body was found six days after her kidnapping. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Two other young girls have been thought to have also been victims of Buell: [[Murder of Tina Harmon|Tina Marie Harmon]], age 12, murdered in 1981; and Deborah Kaye Smith, age 10, murdered in 1983.<ref name=inde>{{cite web|url=http://www.indeonline.com/news/x415853804/UNSOLVED-MURDER-Family-of-Tina-Harmon-abducted-and-killed-in-1981-wants-investigtors-to-reopen-the-case|title=Family of Tina Harmon, abducted and killed in 1981, wants police to reopen the case|website=IndeOnline.com|access-date=February 23, 2012|archive-date=June 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616133235/http://www.indeonline.com/news/x415853804/UNSOLVED-MURDER-Family-of-Tina-Harmon-abducted-and-killed-in-1981-wants-investigtors-to-reopen-the-case|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Although strong evidence is present connecting Buell to all three cases, Buell was only charged with the murder of Krista Harrison.<ref name=inde/> He has since been linked by [[DNA profiling|DNA evidence]] to Tina Harmon's murder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indeonline.com/x1526463240/DNA-proves-Richard-Buell-killed-12-year-old-Massillon-girl-in-1982|title=DNA proves Robert Buell killed 12-year-old Tina Harmon girl in 1981|website=IndeOnline.com|access-date=January 12, 2014|archive-date=January 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112205845/http://www.indeonline.com/x1526463240/DNA-proves-Richard-Buell-killed-12-year-old-Massillon-girl-in-1982|url-status=dead}}</ref> Buell was also a serial rapist. In 1983, Buell raped and tortured a woman who was able to escape and notify police, an event that ultimately led to his arrest. He also raped another woman. Buell pleaded no contest to these crimes and received a 121-year sentence.<ref name=Prosecutor>{{cite web|website=ClarkProsecutor.org|title=Robert Anthony Buell|url=http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/buell801.htm|accessdate=May 18, 2012}}</ref>
Buell was sentenced to death for Krista Harrison's murder on April 11, 1984. Eighteen years later, on September 25, 2002, he was executed by [[lethal injection]], still denying involvement in the Harrison murder.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gillespie|first=Charley|title=Buell put to death|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115245469/buell-put-to-death/|newspaper=[[The Times Recorder]]|date=September 26, 2002|page=4|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=December 27, 2022}}</ref>
This case was presented as "Material Evidence" in ''[[Forensic Files]]'', season 5, episode 8, made before Buell's execution. Information regarding the 2010 DNA match was later added to the end of the episode.
== See also == * [[List of people executed in Ohio]] * [[List of people executed in the United States in 2002]] * [[List of serial killers in the United States]]
== References == {{reflist}}
*{{Commons category-inline}}
{{s-start}} ! colspan="3" | [[Capital punishment in Ohio|Executions carried out in Ohio]] {{s-bef|before=[[Alton Coleman]]|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">April 26, 2002</div>}} {{s-ttl|title=Robert Anthony Buell|years=September 25, 2002}} {{s-aft|after=[[Richard Edwin Fox]]|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">February 12, 2003</div>}} |- ! colspan="3" | [[Capital punishment in the United States|Executions carried out in the United States]] {{s-bef|before=Rex Mays – [[Capital punishment in Texas|Texas]]|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">September 24, 2002</div>}} {{s-ttl|title=Robert Anthony Buell – [[Capital punishment in Ohio|Ohio]]|years=September 25, 2002}} {{s-aft|after=Calvin King – [[Capital punishment in Texas|Texas]]|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">September 25, 2002</div>}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Buell, Robert Anthony}} [[Category:1940 births]] [[Category:2002 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American criminals]] [[Category:21st-century executions by Ohio]] [[Category:21st-century executions of American people]] [[Category:American murderers of children]] [[Category:American people convicted of rape]] [[Category:American people convicted of torture]] [[Category:American people convicted of assault]] [[Category:Executed suspected serial killers]] [[Category:Executed people from Ohio]] [[Category:People convicted of murder by Ohio]] [[Category:People executed by Ohio by lethal injection]] [[Category:People from Akron, Ohio]] [[Category:People from Norwood, Ohio]] [[Category:Violence against women in Ohio]]