Feb. 12, 1989: Two hikers discover Stewart's body in woods near Bantas Creek. An autopsy finds she had been stabbed twice, her throat cut and she had been anally raped.
December 1989: McGuire, who was in prison on a separate criminal case, tells investigators that his brother-in-law Jerry Richardson killed Stewart and he leads them to the murder weapon on a local farm where McGuire and Richardson occasionally worked.
Dec. 24, 1989: McGuire tells his childhood friend visiting him in prison that he and Richardson killed Stewart.
June 1992: An outside lab conducts DNA tests on biological evidence from the crime, eliminating Richardson and Stewart's husband as the source of sperm in the rape. McGuire cannot be ruled out as a suspect, based on the testing.
Dec. 22, 1993: McGuire is indicted on aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping charges.
Dec. 8, 1994: McGuire is convicted on aggravated murder, anal rape and kidnapping charges and is sentenced to death.
Dec. 12, 2013: McGuire's attorneys ask the Ohio Parole Board to recommend clemency for him. McGuire admits that he raped and killed Stewart.
Jan. 7, 2014: Gov. John Kasich denies clemency for McGuire.
Jan. 16, 2014: McGuire is executed and declared dead is 10:53 a.m.
RELATED COVERAGE: FOLLOWING THE STORY AFTER THE EXECUTION:
- Death penalty proposals draw heat
- Botched execution offers new evidence to attorneys
- Execution costs rising
- Capital punishment needs major changes in Ohio, panel says
- Debate rages over execution methods
- Warden: Dennis McGuire execution went 'very well'
- McGuire's family sues to halt executions
- Man executed for 1989 slaying; method brings claims of cruelty
- Ohio executes McGuire, killer of Preble County woman in 1989
- McGuire admits guilt, 25 years after brutal murder