Arthur Lee Burton was executed for the murder of Nancy Adleman in 1997

On Wednesday, death row inmate Arthur Lee Burton was executed in Texas for the murder of a mother of three during an evening jog in Houston. Burton is the third man to be executed in the state this year and the eleventh in the country.

Burton, 54, was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit north of Houston. He was accused of the 1998 murder of 48-year-old Nancy Adleman, whom her daughter described as someone who “chose joy” every day of her life. Burton's time of death was 6:47 p.m., according to Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

During Burton's time on death row, his lawyers filed numerous appeals, including two in July that were recently denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

According to court documents, Burton confessed to the murder to police and told a prison sociologist it was “something I couldn't do anything about.”

Here you can learn all about Burton's execution, his last words, the case and the victim.

Arthur Lee Burton’s last words: “Bird goes home”

Before Burton was executed, he spoke his last words in the death chamber.

“I want to thank all the people who are supporting me and praying for me,” he said. “To everyone I know and everyone I don't know, thank you for your support and prayers… And another full circle to all the guys in the Polunsky Unit (prison), I love you guys… Bird is going home.”

Burton also addressed those affected by his crimes.

“To all the people I have hurt and caused pain, I wish we didn't have to be here right now, but I want you to know that I am sorry for what I did to you and my family,” he said. “I am no better than anyone else. I hope I can find peace and you all can, too.”

The murder of Nancy Adleman

Nancy Adleman died while jogging on Brays Bayou in Houston on July 29, 1997.

The next day, Harris County Sheriff's officials found Adleman's badly mutilated body in a four-foot-deep hole in a densely wooded area along the bayou.

Burton was arrested by authorities ten days after the murder. He initially denied killing Adleman, but eventually confessed in a written statement after officials discovered discrepancies in his alibi.

In his written statement, Burton admitted to attacking Adleman, dragging her into the woods, choking her and rendering her unconscious, removing her shorts and underwear and raping her, according to a 2004 court document. When Adleman regained consciousness and began screaming, Burton choked her again and dragged her into the hole where officers found her.

As Burton was leaving, he saw another person walking nearby, so he returned to the hole and strangled Adleman with her own shoelace, the court document states.

In his confession to police, Burton said Adleman's last words before she died were, “God forgives you, and so do I,” said Adleman's daughter, Sarah Adleman, who was 16 at the time and recently spoke to USA TODAY about the crime.

“For any woman who has ever exercised alone or walked to her car alone at night, this case is her worst nightmare,” Josh Reiss, chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Post-Conviction Writ Division, told USA TODAY.

Nancy Adleman's daughter does not attend the execution

Sarah Adleman told USA TODAY earlier this week that she would not attend Burton's execution and instead planned to gather with friends and family by a river for an afternoon of “play and laughter.”

She was 16 years old when her mother was murdered while jogging in Houston. Today, Sarah Adleman is 43 and a mother herself.

“I think the best way to honor my mother's life is to be there with joy,” said Sarah Adleman. “We will have a ceremony of thanks and forgiveness, a kind of funeral. A farewell to the last 27 years.”