HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday, Texas’ first execution of 2026. Thompson was convicted of murdering his former girlfriend, Dennise Hayslip and her boyfriend, Darren Cain in 1998.
“Today is really about closing a chapter for these two victims’ families,” said Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare. “I can tell you there’s no joy, and what happened, there shouldn’t be. This is an incredibly solemn moment when the state takes a life. But the relief that this is over for them was palpable.”
Teare witnessed Thompson’s execution with Dennise Hayslip’s son, Wade Hayslip, her brother Michael Donaghy, his wife, Cindy, Cain’s parents, Dennis and Valerie Cain, Cain’s friend William Bowden and his ex-wife, Theresa Holst.
The family members who witnessed the execution did not speak publicly after leaving the Huntsville prison unit, but shortly after Thompson was pronounced dead, Dennis Cain turned to those in the witness chamber and said, “He’s in hell.”
Thompson’s father, Stephen Thompson, also witnessed his son’s execution in a separate witness chamber. He declined to make any statement.
After his spiritual advisor finished saying a prayer, Thompson gave a final statement.
“I would like to say that I hope the victims’ family, their extended family, and their loved ones cand find forgiveness in their heart and that you can begin to heal and move past this,” said Thompson. “There is (*sic*) no winners in this situation, it creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28-years later. ”I’m sorry for what I did, I’m sorry for what happened, and I want to tell all of you, I love you and that keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first. To my children, get to know the Lord, and I love you all. That’s it warden."
“There was some surprise at that, that this was the first time that he had admitted guilt, apologized. For whatever comfort that gave them, it’s appreciated,” said Teare.
Prior to Wednesday’s execution, Wade Hayslip spoke with 2 Investigates and said “there’s definitely a piece of me that’s still in ’98.”
Wade Hayslip was 13 years old when his mother was murdered and remembers being pulled out of class at Trinity Klein Lutheran School.
“My vice principal at the time and my youth pastor both were the ones that told me,” said Hayslip. “‘There’s been a shooting, there was one person who has been killed, your mom has been shot.’ And then I said, ‘it was Chuck, wasn’t it?’”
Dennise Hayslip started dating Thompson shortly after her 18-year marriage to Wade’s father ended. Wade Hayslip said Thompson became violent towards his mother.
“There were a couple of nights where they came home late and he was raging mad; punching holes in the wall, just upset,” said Hayslip. “It wasn’t long after that though, then I noticed the actual physical abuse on my mom.”
Hayslip said his mom stopped seeing Thompson and started dating Darren Cain. Investigators said Thompson wouldn’t leave Dennise alone and Cain eventually confronted him.
“He had a fight with Darren, he lost the fight,” said retired Harris County prosecutor Vic Wisner.
Wisner prosecuted Thompson and said the night of the fight a neighbor called the Sheriff’s Office. Wisner said a deputy arrived and found the pair sitting in front of Dennise’s apartment drinking a beer.
“They somehow made peace, shared a beer together, agreed not to fight anymore. He said he accepted the fact that Dennise wanted to be with Darren and not with him,” Wisner said.
The sheriff’s deputy made Thompson leave the complex. He returned a few hours later with a gun and broke into Dennise’s apartment.
“He shot Darren twice in the chest. Darren turned to flee, he was shot once in the back, fell on the floor, and then Thompson held a gun to the back of his head, upper part of his neck, executed him right there,” said Wisner. “From what [Thompson] told his friend’s mother, he grabbed Dennise in a headlock, forced her to look at Darren’s dying body, told her, ‘I can kill you too, [expletive],’ shot right through her cheek.”
Dennise Hayslip was taken by Life Flight Helicopter to the hospital, where she later died. During his trial Thompson unsuccessfully argued a dislodged breathing tube at the hospital is what killed Dennise Hayslip, not the gunshot to her face.
He also claimed he didn’t mean to shoot Cain, but the gun went off during a struggle. Wisner said the evidence refutes Thompson’s claims.
Wisner said Thompson’s confession to his friend’s mother after the shooting prompted him to try to hire a hitman from his jail cell. Another inmate told Sheriff’s officials about Thompson’s plans.
An undercover agent by the name of Gary Johnson was sent to the jail posing as a hitman.
Johnson’s life was the basis for the 2024 Netflix film, ‘Hit Man,’ starring Glen Powell.
“She’s a state’s witness, she’s the only witness they got. That’s kind of more important,” Thompson is heard telling Johnson on an undercover recording from July 7, 1998. “So it’s more important to kill her than to get the gun back.”
Thompson also tried to direct Johnson to the creek where he threw the gun used in the murders. Thompson is also heard on the tape complaining he paid another man to carry out the assassination, but that man took his money and did nothing.
“If I go ahead and take her out and you get out, is there a chance you could tighten me up then?” Johnson asks.
“Oh, hell yes,” Thompson said.
“OK, I’ll kill her for $1,500,” Johnson tells Thompson.
“He doesn’t have a soul, he doesn’t a conscience,” Wisner said.
After being found guilty and sentenced to death, an appellate court ruled the use of the undercover tape involving Johnson was a violation of Thompson’s sixth amendment rights. Thompson was given a second punishment trial, which also ended in a death sentence.
After his second punishment trial in 2005, and before he was transferred back to death row, Thompson escaped from the Harris County jail. He was arrested three days later in Shreveport, La. Thompson said he made it all the way to Shreveport by posing as a Hurricane Katrina evacuee.
Until his final statement, Thompson maintained he never meant to kill Dennise or Darren.