Derrick Quintero
Death row inmate Derrick Quintero has passed away of apparent natural causes. Quintero, 59, was pronounced deceased at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at 3:31 a.m. on Monday.
He was sentenced to death in 1991 for first-degree murder in Stewart County.
The exact cause of his death is pending official determination by the medical examiner.
On June 16, 1988, eight prisoners escaped from Three Cellhouse, the maximum security section of the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Ky. Three of the eight escaped prisoners, Billy Hall, Derrick Quintero and James Blanton, traveled together to Stewart County, Tn. 50 miles from the prison, where they murdered Buford and Myrtle Vester. The death certificates listed the date of death for both victims as June 22, 1988, the date their bodies were found.
Buford Vester was shot from an outside window. Myrtle Vester was shot once with a high-powered rifle, was shot again at close range with a sawed-off shotgun, and was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and chest.
Following a trial by jury, Hall, Quintero and Blanton were each found guilty of the murders of Buford and Myrtle Vester and sentenced to death.