Oklahoma executes man Steven Thacker who killed three while stealing money and gifts for his wife and her children

Oklahoma executed a man on Tuesday that was convicted of stabbing a woman to death in 1999 after he responded to her classified regarding a pool table and of killing two more people in nearby states as he fled authorities.

Steven Ray Thacker, 42, was pronounced dead at 6.10pm at Oklahoma State Prison in McAlester.

He was the fifth person executed in the United States this year and the first in Oklahoma.

He pre-ordered his last meal of a large meat lover's pizza, peanut M&Ms and a root beer.

Thacker, a laid-off plumber's helper at the time, kidnapped, raped and then murdered Laci Dawn Hill, 25, two days before Christmas in 1999.

Police said Thacker was broke and wanted money to buy Christmas presents for his wife and her two children.

He had met his first victim at her home in Bixby, Oklahoma, south of Tulsa when he answered her classified ad.

After Thacker was identified on a surveillance tape using Hill's debit card, he led authorities on a multi-state chase, fatally stabbing people in Missouri and Tennessee.

Thacker stabbed Forrest Reed Boyd, 24, to death after Boyd found Thacker burglarizing his home in Aldrich in southweste Missouri, about 200 miles from Bixby, authorities said.

Victims: Thacker kidnapped, raped and then murdered Laci Dawn Hill (left), 25, two days before Christmas in 1999 and then killed two others including Ray Patterson (right) when he was on the run

Last breath: Thacker was lethally injected at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester

Later, Thacker killed tow truck driver Ray Patterson, 52, of Dyersburg, Tennessee, who had responded to Thacker's request for a tow, authorities said.

Thacker was convicted of all three murders, and had been held in a Tennessee prison until his transfer last week to the Oklahoma state prison in McAlester for his execution on Tuesday.

Thacker suffered from bipolar disorder but refused to stay on medication designed to curb his mood swings, according to court documents.

Oklahoma executed six of the 43 people put to death in the United States last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.