Ex-Navy crewman Travis Hittson to be executed in Georgia tonight for mudering fellow sailor

Georgia is set to execute a former Navy crewman tonight for killing a fellow sailor.

Travis Hittson, 45, is scheduled to receive an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at 7pm Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson.

He was convicted in the April 1992 killing of Conway Utterbeck, who was hit with a metal bat while he was sleeping, then shot and dismembered - his remains buried in two places. 

Hittson declined to request a last meal and will be served the institutional tray consisting of meatloaf patties, brown gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, red beans, cobread, bread pudding and an orange beverage.

Another sailor who was also convicted in the killing reached a plea deal for a life sentence. 

Hittson was a 21-year-old Navy crewman stationed in Pensacola, Florida, in April 1992 when he and Utterbeck went with a third sailor, Edward Vollmer, to Vollmer's parents' home in Waer Robins, Georgia, for a weekend, according to court filings.

Prosecutors have said Hittson told investigators that the second night they were there, he and Vollmer went to several bars while Utterbeck remained at the house. 

 

Fellow sailor Edward Vollmer was also convicted in the killing, but struck a plea deal for a life sentence

As they drove back to the house, Vollmer said Utterbeck planned to kill them and they should 'get' him first, prosecutors said.

Vollmer put on a bulletproof vest, gave Hittson an aluminum baseball bat, and entered the home, where Utterbeck was sleeping, according to court filings. 

On Vollmer's instructions, Hittson hit Utterbeck several times in the head with the bat and then dragged him into the kitchen where Vollmer was waiting, according to prosecutors.

Hittson told investigators that Utterbeck screamed, 'Travis, whatever have I did to you?' according to court filings. Vollmer stepped on Utterbeck's hands and Hittson shot him in the head, prosecutors have said.

About two hours later, Vollmer said they needed to cut up Utterbeck's body to get rid of the evidence, prosecutors said. Hittson told investigators they used a hacksaw to cut off Utterbeck's hands, head and feet but that he became sick after removing a hand and Vollmer finished dismembering the body, according to prosecutors.

The two then packed Utterbeck's remains in garbage bags and buried his torso in Houston county, prosecutors said. They then cleaned up Vollmer's parents' home, hid the baseball bat in the shed and drove back to Pensacola, where they buried the rest of Utterbeck's remains, prosecutors said.

A woman saw a black Ford Thunderbird with Florida license plates leaving a little-used dirt road in Houston County and noted the tag number because it seemed suspicious to her. 

When loggers found Utterbeck's torso in June 1992, police determined the car the woman had seen belonged to Vollmer.

 

Hittson is scheduled to receive an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson (pictured) 

Investigators questioned a number of Utterbeck's fellow sailors. When Hittson was questioned, he gave a statement that implicated him and Vollmer and then told investigators where Utterbeck's body parts were buried. He and Vollmer were arrested.