Missouri prepares to execute killer of teenage girl

By Carey Gillam KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – Missouri officials were preparing on Tuesday to execute a man convicted of abducting, raping and strangling a teenage girl who was working as a gas station attendant. Jeffrey Ferguson, 59, was twice convicted for killing 17-year-old Kelli Hall, who he kidnapped with an accomplice as she ended her evening shift at a metropolitan St. Louis service station on February 9, 1989. Ferguson is scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. local time on Wednesday at a state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri. He would be the third man executed in Missouri this year.