Texas Burglar Executed For Killing Retired Couple

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ A career burglar was executed Thursday for torturing and killing a retired couple while breaking into their home in 1999. <br/><br/>Newton Anderson, 30, looked at relatives and

Thursday, February 22nd 2007, 9:23 pm

By: News On 6

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ A career burglar was executed Thursday for torturing and killing a retired couple while breaking into their home in 1999.

Newton Anderson, 30, looked at relatives and friends of the victims, telling them, ``I hope you get what you want and it makes you feel better and gives you some kind of relief. I don't know what else to say.''

Anderson, who said he began stealing from homes even before he was a teenager, had been out of prison for only four months after serving time for burglary when he was arrested in the slayings.

Frank Cobb, 71, and his wife, Bertha, 61, had been out running errands and returned to find Anderson in their home.

Firefighters found the bodies while responding to a blaze at the Cobbs' rural house about 10 miles northwest of Tyler. Both had been tied up with electrical tape and shot in the head. Bertha Cobb had been raped.

Anderson was arrested in Dallas a day after the March 4, 1999, slayings. Witnesses had seen him driving away from the scene in the couple's car. Property taken from their home was also found at the residence where he was living.

Anderson, in an interview last week, acknowledged killing the couple but could not explain why.

``I am guilty,'' he told The Associated Press. ``I don't deny that ... They had good evidence. Witnesses saw me. What can I say?''