Stanko indicted; Prosecutors seek death penalty

<p>An ex-convict charged with killing two people and raping a girl last spring was indicted Monday on murder and armed robbery charges, prosecutors said.</p><p>Stephen Stanko, who gained attention while in prison for co-writing a book on the penal system, was indicted by the Horry County Grand Jury in the death of 74-year-old Henry Lee Turner, who was fatally shot April 8.</p><p>He was arrested in Augusta, Ga., on April 12, a day after authorities launched a nationwide manhunt.</p><p>Prosecutors said they intend to seek the death penalty.</p><p>Stanko also took money, a cell phone and Turner's Mazda pickup truck, according to the indictment.</p><p>He also has been charged in the death of 43-year-old Laura Ling, a librarian who lived with him. Ling's body was discovered after a teenage girl in the home called authorities and said she had been raped by Stanko, police have said.</p><p>Stanko was released from prison in July 2004 after serving most of a 10-year sentence for kidnapping a live-in girlfriend. While in prison, he co-wrote a book titled "Living in Prison: A History of the Correctional System With an Insider's View" with the help of two criminology professors. In the book, Stanko vowed never to go back to prison.</p>

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