Daniel Lewis Lee
Daniel Lewis Lee was an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and murderer. In 1999, Lee was convicted as an accomplice to Chevie Kehoe in the 1996 murders of William Frederick Mueller, Nancy Ann Mueller, and their young daughter Sarah Elizabeth Powell, during a robbery at their Arkansas home. The murders were committed as part of a plot to establish a white ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest, known as the Northwest Territorial Imperative. While Kehoe was found guilty of the triple murder in a separate trial and was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment without parole, Lee was sentenced to death. Lee had been previously convicted for assisting his cousin in the 1990 murder of Joey Wavra.
Upon conviction by the US federal government, Lee stayed on death row for 21 years before he was scheduled to be executed on July 13, 2020, but on that date, a U.S. district judge blocked the execution, citing unresolved legal issues. Thereafter, on July 14, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the execution could proceed. It was scheduled for 4:00 a.m. that same day. After another short delay, he was executed at 8:07 a.m. He was the first person executed by the US federal government since 2003.
Early life
Lee was born on January 31, 1973, in Yukon, Oklahoma. His biological father, James Gene Lee, had married Lee's mother, Lea Graham, the prior year, but the marriage wasn't legal since James was still married to another woman. James Lee physically abused Lea and abandoned the family after his son's birth. Lea married her second husband, Dennis Graham, in 1976 and during their twelve-year marriage, Dennis beat and sexually abused his wife, sometimes in front of Lee, while doting on his biological daughter. Lee was subjected to emotional and physical abuse by his stepfather, with Lee's mother later alleging that Lee was also molested by him. Lee's court psychiatrist stated that he inherited a predisposition for alcoholism and mental illness.As a child, Lee reportedly suffered from untreated seizures and was also diagnosed with ADHD. Lee's mother admitted to regularly withholding prescriptions of phenobarbital and ritalin for both conditions since she "didn't like seeing him constantly drugged". At age eleven or fifteen, Lee began huffing spray paint, Scotchgard, and other household chemicals as inhalant drugs, often leading to unconsciousness, as well as consuming downers and smoking marijuana. According to later appeals, he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and learning disabilities as an adult.
During the 1980s, Lee's mother regularly alerted authorities to take her son to youth homes, describing him as "unruly and beyond parental control", but he was always returned to his family for disruptive behavior. In 1988, while living in Tennessee, Lee was reported by his mother for assaulting his younger stepsister, who has cerebral palsy. Lee was signed onto two drug rehabilitation programs, but lapsed attendance for both. Due to a suicide attempt and violence against his peers, Lee was briefly held at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City. By February 1989, the Department of Human Services had taken child custody of Lee.
Crimes
In 1988, Lee, aged 15, first came into contact with law enforcement in Oklahoma County, when he was arrested twice within a week for burglary and arson. Four months after his first arrest, Lee was charged with three counts of second-degree burglary and threatening a witness.In early 1989, Lee was dismissed from a mental hospital in Miami, Oklahoma, with staff citing Lee's repeated harassment, intimidation, and physical assaults on other patients. In spring and summer 1989, Lee escaped twice from custody, being relocated each time after several months beyond state lines, in Kentucky and Arkansas respectively. While in hiding, Lee began associating with the Ku Klux Klan, reportedly after "finding a father figure" in a senior KKK member, Bobby Norman. Police also suspected Lee of committing a series of armed robberies while on the run, but he was ultimately not charged.
In August 1989, Lee was held at Central Oklahoma Juvenile Center in Tecumseh, from which he escaped a week after arrival. Upon his recapture in October 1989, Lee voiced a desire to attain a GED and attend treatment for his drug addiction. By 1990, Lee had obtained work at a fast-food restaurant and received a 30-day pass.
Murder of Joey Wavra
On July 24, 1990, in Oklahoma City, Lee got into an altercation with another man, 22-year-old Joseph "Joey" Wavra III, at a party. Wavra was accused of urinating on a recliner by accident after being intimidated by other guests. Lee struck Wavra in the face and kicked him on the floor once he had collapsed before handcuffing Wavra. Lee, accompanied by his cousin, 20-year-old John David Patton, then left the party with Wavra. Party guests recalled Patton threatening to kill Wavra and asking others for their opinion. Lee and Patton forced Wavra to a storm drain in the backyard of another residence. It was Lee's idea to wedge Wavra, described as thin and weighing 110 pounds, into the narrow space. Patton ordered Wavra to strip naked, with Lee taking Wavra's clothes and packing them in a bag for disposal. During this process, Wavra pleaded with Lee and Patton, saying "Don't make me go down there". Lee then handed Patton a rope, a garbage bag and a paring knife, before leaving to get rid of Wavra's clothes. During this time, Patton used the knife to slit Wavra's throat before stabbing him numerous time in the chest and foot soles. Patton subsequently returned to the party, telling attendants, including Lee, "It's cool, Joey's OK". All three individuals were under the influence of alcohol and LSD.The following day, Patton confessed the murder to the homeowner, Larry Paul Dawson, who had spent the night of the crime in jail for public drunkenness and discovered the body upon his release. Lee was charged in the murder after testifying against Patton and held without bond. Lee had claimed that he wasn't aware of Patton's intention with the knife, believing he would use it to cut off Wavra's pants and that he did not witness the murder. During Lee's trial, his attorney, as well as his mother asked for Lee to be tried by a juvenile court. On December 2, 1990, Lee pleaded guilty to robbery, whereupon the murder charge was dismissed. He received a five-year suspended sentence for his involvement in the crime, while Patton was sentenced to life without parole. Patton died in prison on January 7, 2014.
Between 1991 and 1995, Lee was charged with reckless driving, larceny, battery, failure to appear in court, assault with a dangerous weapon, resisting arrest, and trespassing in Oklahoma, Tennessee, Washington, Wyoming, and Florida.
In early 1995, Lee was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend Jennifer Givens while living in Bowling Green, Kentucky, after Givens tore up a picture of Adolf Hitler she found in Lee's belongings. Givens later stated that Lee was physically abusive throughout their relationship, including while she was pregnant with their daughter.
Lee met white supremacist Chevie Kehoe in 1995 and was recruited into a white supremacist organization known as the Aryan Peoples' Republic or the Aryan Peoples' Resistance. On May 3, 1995, Lee was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon in Martin County, Florida, and was sentenced to six months probation.
Lee lost his left eye sometime before April 1996 when he was hit by a cue ball in a bar fight in Spokane, Washington, after he called a Native American a racial slur. He refused to wear an eyepatch and among his neo-Nazi skinhead friends gained the nickname Cyclops.
Mueller family murders
In January 1996, Lee and Kehoe left the state of Washington and traveled to Arkansas. On January 11, 1996, they arrived at the home of 52-year-old William Frederick Mueller, a gun dealer who lived near Tilly, Arkansas, who possessed a large collection of weapons, ammunition, and cash. Kehoe and his father had robbed Mueller in February 1995, and Kehoe expected to find valuable property at the house. Dressed in police raid clothing, Lee and Kehoe tried to enter Mueller's home, but the family was not in. When they returned, Lee and Kehoe overpowered and incapacitated Mueller and his wife, 28-year-old Nancy Ann Mueller. They then questioned Nancy Mueller's 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Powell, about where they could find the cash, guns, and ammunition, forcing her to talk by shocking her with an electric cattle prod.After finding $50,000 in cash and gold, and $30,000 worth of firearms and firearm parts, Lee and Kehoe shot each of the three victims with a stun gun. They then placed plastic bags over their heads and sealed the bags with duct tape, suffocating them. According to Chevie Kehoe's mother Gloria, Lee confessed to participating in the murder of the Mueller parents, but insisted that Powell was killed by Kehoe after Lee refused. They took the victims in Kehoe's vehicle to the Illinois River, away, where they taped rocks to them and threw each family member into the swamp. Lee received $3,000 or $4,000 and a pistol for his part in the crime. Kehoe and his family took the stolen property to a motel in Spokane, Washington, by way of the Christian Identity community of Elohim City, Oklahoma. The bodies were discovered in Lake Dardanelle near Russellville, Arkansas, in late June 1996.