HUNTSVILLE, Texas \u2013 Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, Texas\u2019 first execution of 2026. Thompson was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip and her boyfriend, Darren Cain in 1998.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is really about closing a chapter for these two victims\u2019 families,\u201d said Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare. \u201cI can tell you there\u2019s no joy, and what happened, there shouldn\u2019t be. This is an incredibly solemn moment when the state takes a life. But the relief that this is over for them was palpable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teare witnessed Thompson\u2019s execution with Dennise Hayslip\u2019s son, Wade Hayslip, her brother Michael Donaghy, his wife, Cindy, Cain\u2019s parents, Dennis and Valerie Cain, Cain\u2019s friend William Bowden and his ex-wife, Theresa Holst.<\/p>\n
The family members who witnessed the execution did not speak publicly after leaving the Huntsville prison unit, but shortly after Thompson was pronounced dead, Dennis Cain turned to those in the witness chamber and said, \u201cHe\u2019s in hell.\u201d <\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s father, Stephen Thompson, also witnessed his son\u2019s execution in a separate witness chamber. He declined to make any statement.<\/p>\n
After his spiritual advisor finished saying a prayer, Thompson gave a final statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to say that I hope the victims\u2019 family, their extended family, and their loved ones cand find forgiveness in their heart and that you can begin to heal and move past this,\u201d said Thompson. \u201cThere is (*sic*) no winners in this situation, it creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28-years later. \u201dI\u2019m sorry for what I did, I\u2019m sorry for what happened, and I want to tell all of you, I love you and that keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first. To my children, get to know the Lord, and I love you all. That\u2019s it warden.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was some surprise at that, that this was the first time that he had admitted guilt, apologized. For whatever comfort that gave them, it\u2019s appreciated,\u201d said Teare.<\/p>\n
Prior to Wednesday\u2019s execution, Wade Hayslip spoke with 2 Investigates and said \u201cthere\u2019s definitely a piece of me that\u2019s still in \u201998.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wade Hayslip was 13 years old when his mother was murdered and remembers being pulled out of class at Trinity Klein Lutheran School.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy vice principal at the time and my youth pastor both were the ones that told me,\u201d said Hayslip. \u201c\u2018There\u2019s been a shooting, there was one person who has been killed, your mom has been shot.\u2019 And then I said, \u2018it was Chuck, wasn\u2019t it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dennise Hayslip started dating Thompson shortly after her 18-year marriage to Wade\u2019s father ended. Wade Hayslip said Thompson became violent towards his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a couple of nights where they came home late and he was raging mad; punching holes in the wall, just upset,\u201d said Hayslip. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t long after that though, then I noticed the actual physical abuse on my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayslip said his mom stopped seeing Thompson and started dating Darren Cain. Investigators said Thompson wouldn\u2019t leave Dennise alone and Cain eventually confronted him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a fight with Darren, he lost the fight,\u201d said retired Harris County prosecutor Vic Wisner.<\/p>\n
Wisner prosecuted Thompson and said the night of the fight a neighbor called the Sheriff\u2019s Office. Wisner said a deputy arrived and found the pair sitting in front of Dennise\u2019s apartment drinking a beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey somehow made peace, shared a beer together, agreed not to fight anymore. He said he accepted the fact that Dennise wanted to be with Darren and not with him,\u201d Wisner said.<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s deputy made Thompson leave the complex. He returned a few hours later with a gun and broke into Dennise\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe shot Darren twice in the chest. Darren turned to flee, he was shot once in the back, fell on the floor, and then Thompson held a gun to the back of his head, upper part of his neck, executed him right there,\u201d said Wisner. \u201cFrom what [Thompson] told his friend\u2019s mother, he grabbed Dennise in a headlock, forced her to look at Darren\u2019s dying body, told her, \u2018I can kill you too, [expletive],\u2019 shot right through her cheek.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dennise Hayslip was taken by Life Flight Helicopter to the hospital, where she later died. During his trial Thompson unsuccessfully argued a dislodged breathing tube at the hospital is what killed Dennise Hayslip, not the gunshot to her face.<\/p>\n
He also claimed he didn\u2019t mean to shoot Cain, but the gun went off during a struggle. Wisner said the evidence refutes Thompson\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n
Wisner said Thompson\u2019s confession to his friend\u2019s mother after the shooting prompted him to try to hire a hitman from his jail cell. Another inmate told Sheriff\u2019s officials about Thompson\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n
An undercover agent by the name of Gary Johnson was sent to the jail posing as a hitman.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s life was the basis for the 2024 Netflix film, \u2018Hit Man,\u2019 starring Glen Powell.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a state\u2019s witness, she\u2019s the only witness they got. That\u2019s kind of more important,\u201d Thompson is heard telling Johnson on an undercover recording from July 7, 1998. \u201cSo it\u2019s more important to kill her than to get the gun back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson also tried to direct Johnson to the creek where he threw the gun used in the murders. Thompson is also heard on the tape complaining he paid another man to carry out the assassination, but that man took his money and did nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I go ahead and take her out and you get out, is there a chance you could tighten me up then?\u201d Johnson asks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, hell yes,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, I\u2019ll kill her for $1,500,\u201d Johnson tells Thompson.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t have a soul, he doesn\u2019t a conscience,\u201d Wisner said.<\/p>\n
After being found guilty and sentenced to death, an appellate court ruled the use of the undercover tape involving Johnson was a violation of Thompson\u2019s sixth amendment rights. Thompson was given a second punishment trial, which also ended in a death sentence.<\/p>\n
After his second punishment trial in 2005, and before he was transferred back to death row, Thompson escaped from the Harris County jail. He was arrested three days later in Shreveport, La. Thompson said he made it all the way to Shreveport by posing as a Hurricane Katrina evacuee.<\/p>\n
Until his final statement, Thompson maintained he never meant to kill Dennise or Darren. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HUNTSVILLE, Texas \u2013 Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, Texas\u2019 first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[55453,294,59383,2315,55457,43212,6487,5778,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-142267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-charles-victor-thompson","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-darren-cain","11":"tag-death-penalty","12":"tag-dennise-hayslip","13":"tag-execution","14":"tag-huntsville","15":"tag-investigates","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-texas-headlines","18":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}