Jeffrey Weisheit was executed shortly after midnight Thursday, November 5, 2026, after the Indiana Supreme Court rejected his final attempt to stop the lethal injection. The 50-year-old death row inmate was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. His execution came hours after his attorneys made another emergency appeal challenging the state’s execution procedures and the drugs it planned to use.
Weisheit was sentenced to death for the 2010 murders of his girlfriend’s two children, 8-year-old Alyssa Lynch and 5-year-old Caleb Lynch. The siblings died after their family home near Evansville, Indiana, was deliberately set on fire while they were inside. Their mother, Lisa Lynch, was working an overnight shift when the killings happened.
Investigators and prosecutors said Weisheit was responsible for caring for the children that night. Instead, he bound Caleb, set the house on fire and fled to Kentucky. He was later arrested. A jury found him guilty of two counts of murder and arson in 2013 and sentenced him to death.
In the weeks before his execution, Weisheit’s attorneys made several efforts to secure a delay. They also sought brain scans, arguing that additional medical information could help present a fuller picture of his condition during the clemency process. Those efforts did not change the execution date.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun rejected Weisheit’s request for clemency on November 2. The governor accepted the Indiana Parole Board’s unanimous recommendation against reducing the death sentence to life in prison without parole. The board had considered testimony and other information during its October review.
The final legal fight centered on Indiana’s planned lethal-injection procedure. Weisheit’s lawyers questioned the state’s purchase of pentobarbital, the conditions under which the drug had been stored and whether it had undergone sufficient testing. They also raised concerns about the pharmacy that supplied the medication and the training of prison employees responsible for placing intravenous lines.
The Indiana Supreme Court considered the emergency request Wednesday night and rejected it in a 3-2 ruling. Two justices disagreed with the majority and would have granted a 10-day delay to allow additional information about the drug’s formulation, expiration, storage and testing to be examined. The ruling cleared the way for the execution to proceed.
The Indiana Department of Correction said the execution process started shortly after midnight. Officials reported that Weisheit had no final words and was pronounced dead at 12:45 a.m. His final meal was barbecue ribs purchased from Texas Corral, along with Mountain Dew.
The execution also brought attention to the different positions taken by the children’s parents. Lisa Lynch supported carrying out the death sentence, while Steven Lynch asked the governor to spare Weisheit’s life. Their disagreement reflected the difficult choices facing the family after losing two young children in such a violent way.
With the execution completed, Weisheit’s case came to an end after more than 16 years of legal proceedings. His death was Indiana’s fourth execution since executions resumed in December 2024. The killings that brought him to death row happened near Evansville, while the execution itself took place at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.