Christeson execution scheduled

Convicted of killing woman, 2 children near Vichy

Mark Christeson now is scheduled to die Jan. 31 - one day short of the 19th anniversary of the three murders he committed.

The Missouri Supreme Court issued the execution order on Wednesday.

Christeson, now 37, was sentenced to death in October 1999, after a Vernon County jury convicted him of killing Susan Brouk, 36, and her two children - Adrian, 12, and Kyle, 9 - on Sunday morning, Feb. 1, 1998, in a farm pond near Vichy in Maries County.

After raping Susan, Christeson, then 18, and his cousin, Jessie Carter, then 17, forced the Brouks into the back of her Ford Bronco and drove the Brouks to the pond.

Court records show Christeson slit Susan's throat - but she didn't die right away, and she was able to tell both children she loved them. He then cut Kyle's throat and held him in the pond until he drowned and also pressed down on Adrian's throat until she suffocated, then pushed her body into the pond.

Both teens then threw Susan's nearly lifeless body into the pond, and she drowned.

Christeson previously has been scheduled for execution, but those dates were delayed.

Most recently, he was scheduled to die on Oct. 29, 2014. But the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the execution order, and in January 2015, it ruled Christeson should be entitled to new lawyers after his attorneys missed a crucial filing deadline.

The case began when Christeson and Carter joined together in a plan to steal from the Brouks and then run away.

After the murders, the teens stole a number of items from the Brouk home, loaded them into the Bronco and headed west on Interstate 44.

The search for the Brouks didn't begin until Feb. 4, after Susan's family - concerned she hadn't answered her phone in several days - called the Maries County sheriff.

A Highway Patrol helicopter found the bodies on Feb. 5.

The teens were arrested in Riverside County, California, on Feb. 9, 1998, after a sheriff's deputy recognized them from pictures circulated to law officers around the country.

Carter testified against Christeson during the trial, which was held in Nevada on a change of venue.

Carter pleaded guilty to the three murders and is serving three life sentences at the state's Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.