DALLAS -- Liberty, 6, and Faith, 9, were visiting their father, John Battaglia, in his Deep Ellum apartment in May of 2001 when the unthinkable happened.
"He tried to kill the children,” yelled Mary Jean Pearl in a 911 call. The little girls were on the phone with their mother, Mary Jean Pearl, when Battaglia shot them. She described the horror at his trial a year after the murders.
"And then I hear Faith go, 'No daddy, please don't do it, and I heard (gunfire) and I hear him yell. Merry F'ing Christmas,'" she said.
Hours later, Battaglia was arrested outside a tattoo parlor, where he had two roses, one for each girl, tattooed on his arm.
Battaglia had a history of domestic violence in his marriage with Mary Jean Pearl and in his first marriage. Despite his history, he was allowed unsupervised visits with his daughters.
"In a lot of cases, it was not brought up that there had been domestic violence in that relationship that was dissolving, or there had been some danger to the child,” said Paige Flink of The Family Place.
Lawmakers outraged over the deaths changed laws. They made it mandatory for judges to ask if there is a history of domestic violence.
And at the Family Place, Faith and Liberty's Place was built. It's a place where parents can have safe supervised visits.
As for Battaglia, in an interview with WFAA two years ago, he blamed everyone but himself for the murders calling prosecutors and judges demons.
"Some people would say you are the demon because you killed 2 little innocent girls. ‘I can understand that the media gets to only have their say,’" he said.
Battaglia will finally pay for his crimes and die by lethal injection Thursday. It’s the third time he’s had an execution date. The last two times he was given a stay.
As for Faith and Liberty, they will live on between these walls at The Family Place where children are safe.
WFAA’s Rebecca Lopez covered the little girls’ murders in May 2001 and will witness Battaglia’s execution.