FILE - This Oct. 9, 2014, file photo shows the gurney in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Okla.

Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010.

The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985 and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Having three executions in one day was a coincidence in scheduling, but reflected a trend of increased executions in the U.S. Eleven states executed a total of 47 people in 2025, the highest number since 2009. With Thursday`s injections, 22 executions have been carried out this year in the U.S. with nearly a dozen more scheduled.

The last time three executions were carried out on the same day was on Jan. 7, 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio and Texas put inmates to death. Three executions were scheduled on the same day in 2018, but only one went forward after a Texas man was granted a reprieve and prison officials in Alabama had problems with the IV line.

Florida executed two men on the same day in July and has put 31 prisoners to death since the start of 2025.

Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. after an injection at the state penitentiary in rural McAlester, the third person executed this year in Oklahoma.

Cuesta-Rodriguez turned his head toward two relatives on hand and mouthed "I love you" but had no last statement. His breathing was labored for several minutes before he was declared dead.

Convicted of murdering his girlfriend at their Oklahoma City home in 2003, Cuesta-Rodriguez had said he regretted killing Olimpia Fisher and told a board he didn`t want clemency.

Fisher, 43, planned to leave Cuesta-Rodriguez when he shot her once in one eye and then waited several minutes as she screamed before shooting her again.

Fisher`s daughters, Cinthya Allen and Katya Wallis, said in a statement they hoped the execution brings awareness to preventing domestic violence, adding they are "raising our families to reflect the love and faith in God that she taught us."

Anthony Darrell Hines received an injection in Tennessee for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jenkins. He was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT.

Hines fatally stabbed Jenkins while the 54-year-old was working as a motel maid in Kingston Springs.

Hines said "not right now, thank you" when asked if he had final words, then said, "Tell my son hello" before he died. Hines` son witnessed the execution. He reconnected with his father four days earlier after not seeing him since he was 3 years old.

About four minutes after the curtain to the death chamber opened, Hines asked his spiritual adviser: "How long do I have?" Not long afterward, witnesses heard groans and heavy breathing as the spiritual adviser put her hands on his shoulders and prayed over him.

Afterward, Jenkins` son detailed how his mother had only a plastic spray bottle to defend herself from the knife.

"I hope he felt severe pain because what he did to my mother is nothing compared to what he may have just gone through," Dennis Jenkins said.

Hines` execution comes just three months after the attempted lethal injection of another man was stopped after medical staff couldn`t establish a backup IV line for more than an hour.

Hines, 66, appealed unsuccessfully, saying that the doctor who oversaw the May execution was unqualified and likely to botch his execution as well.

Alabama executed Jeremy Williams for the 2021 rape and murder of the young Georgia girl.

"I want to thank God for forgiving me for my sins so I can meet him in peace," Williams said in his final words. He rocked his head back and forth and smiled and appeared to sing or speak before slowing become still on the gurney. A member of his family cried quietly throughout, and Williams was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.

Williams, who pleaded guilty to killing Kamarie Holland, had declined to appeal and wrote the Alabama attorney general`s office seeking an immediate execution date so his victim`s family "may have some type of closure."

The 42-year-old raped and strangled Holland after offering her mother $2,500 for the child to perform a sex act, prosecutors said, adding he filmed his attack.

"The unspeakable nature of this crime is exactly why we have the death penalty statute in the state of Alabama," Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement afterward.

Russell County District Attorney Richard Chancey described Kamarie`s final moments as "horrific."

"That baby didn`t die in peace," he said during a news conference after the execution, recalling Williams last words about dying in peace.

Russell County Sheriff Heather Taylor, who described this case as the worst investigation in his 39-year law enforcement career, said he believed Williams sought quick execution because he was worried about how he would be treated in prison.

"He didn`t want to look over his shoulder for 30 years, in my opinion," Taylor said.

The girl`s mother is serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to sex trafficking.

Williams also was a suspect in the 2005 death of his infant daughter in Alaska but charges were not filed until 2022.

Corey Holland, Kamarie`s father, said she was an exuberant child who loved princesses and made people laugh.

"She loved playing dress-up, all her little Halloween costumes and her princess stuff I got her," Corey Holland said.

It was Alabama`s first execution of the year. A nitrogen gas execution was blocked in June after a federal judge ruled the method unconstitutional.