BONNE TERRE, Mo. •  Martin Link was put to death early today for the 1991 killing of 11-year-old Elissa Self-Braun of St. Louis.

Link died by injection after midnight at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It was the first execution in Missouri since May 2009 and just the second since 2006.

Link's fate was sealed when Gov. Jay Nixon on Monday denied clemency and the courts on Tuesday refused to halt the execution.

Elissa's parents Don Self and Pamela Braun were among the witnesses at Link's execution.

"Justice was a long time coming," Self said afterward.

Also at the execution were Mike Flaherty and Bill Roach, the two St. Louis police detectives who led the investigation into Elissa's disappearance and built the case against Link.

"It's the closing of a chapter in a long legacy," Roach said of Link's execution.

Link, who had declined interview requests before his death, made a final statement that blasted the death penalty.

"The state says killing is wrong, so why do they do it? It's revenge," Link said. "Where is the closure? There is none. The death penalty is an act of revenge."

Elissa disappeared on Jan. 11, 1991, while walking to her school bus stop. Her body was found four days later along the St. Francis River, 135 miles south of St. Louis.

DNA evidence connected Link to the crime.

Attorney Jennifer Herndon's efforts to spare Link's life belied his own indifference. Link tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrist in 2008 and spent his last few years in prison in solitary confinement, Herndon said.