Biography · Biography & Culture
Rainey Bethea
Biography
United States
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Biography
Rainey Bethea (c. 1909 – August 14, 1936), was the last person publicly executed in Kentucky. Bethea, who confessed to the rape and killing of a 70-year-old woman named Lishia Edwards, was convicted of her rape and publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Sources & collection details
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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13