Texas executes 41-year-old Ramiro Gonzales for murder and rape in 2001

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Texas death row inmate Ramiro Gonzales was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, despite numerous appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, for the 2001 murder and rape of a teenage woman.

Gonzales was pronounced dead after a chemical injection at the Huntsville State Penitentiary at 6:50 p.m. His execution comes after he confessed to it deadly shooting Bridget Townsend, 18, of southwest Texas, whose remains were found nearly two years after her 2001 disappearance.

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Ramiro Gonzales, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. ET after being injected with a chemical substance at the Huntsville Correctional Facility in connection with the January 2001 murder of Bridget Townsend. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

In a statement released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Gonzales repeatedly apologized to the victim’s family from the execution room.

“I can’t describe in words the pain I’ve caused you, the harm, what I’ve taken from you, what I can’t give back. I hope this apology is enough,” he said.

“I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have the opportunity to apologize. I owe my life to all of you and I hope one day you will forgive me,” he added.

The US flag and the Texas state flag fly over the Texas State Capitol (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Townsend, who would have turned 41 this year, was kidnapped from her home in January 2001 and suffered sexual assault before Gonzales murdered her.

Her body was not found until October 2002, when Gonzales led authorities to her remains in southwest Texas after receiving two life sentences for kidnapping and raping another woman.

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“We finally saw justice served,” Townsend’s brother David said after watching the execution. “This day marks the end of our family’s long and painful journey. We have endured unimaginable pain and heartache for over two decades.”

David said Gonzales’ death “gives us some peace. I want to say that we are not joyful, we are not happy. “It’s a very, very sad day for everyone around the world.”

FILE – The execution chamber at the Idaho High Security Institute is shown as Institute of Security guard Randy Blades looks at it in Boise, Idaho, October 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Jessie L. Bonner, File)

Gonzales’ lawyers, Thea Posel and Raoul Schonemann, had previously asked the commission to change the death sentence to a lighter sentence.

“He has devoted himself seriously to self-improvement, contemplation, and prayer, and as a result has grown into a mature, peaceful, kind, loving, and deeply religious adult. He acknowledges his responsibility for his crimes and seeks to atone for them and seek redemption through his actions,” Gonzales’ lawyers wrote in a motion to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

Earlier this month, a group of 11 evangelical leaders from Texas and across the country asked the parole board and Gov. Greg Abbott for a stay of execution and a clemency.

On Monday, the parole board voted 7-0 against commuting Gonzales’ death sentence to a lesser one. Members also rejected giving him a six-month suspension.

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Gonzales’ execution was the second this year in Texas and the eighth in the United States

Richard Rojem is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on Thursday for the 1984 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.