Killer clown’ John Wayne Gacy had a chilling admission before being given the lethal injection after spending years on death row for his horrific crimes.
The American convict was one of the most notorious criminals of his time, a known serial killer and rapist who was responsible for killing at least 33 boys and men in Chicago.
Each murder was carried out in Gacy’s home in Norwood Park, with the bodies later being found buried in his garden.
Serial killer John Wayne Gacy was arrested in 1978 (Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images)
Gacy was born on 17 March, 1942 and had a troubled upbringing, being physically and mentally abused by his alcoholic father while also being bullied at school for being overweight.
On top of that, he was sexually abused by the teenage daughter of a family friend, later being assaulted by another family friend when he was older.
Despite realising that he was attracted to men at a young age, he went on to marry a woman named Marlynn Myers in 1964, settling down in Iowa where he managed three Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants and had two children.
But he would later join the Waterloo Jaycees, a club of men who would do things like wife swap, engage in prostitution, porn and take drugs.
Gacy would then move onto luring teenage boys, some from his managed restaurants, to his basement with the promise of alcohol and porn, but he would then force them into sexual acts.
He was then convicted of sodomy in 1968, which led to his wife divorcing him. But Gacy would only serve two years of his 10-year sentence.
Gacy raped, tortured and murdered several men in the Chicago area (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
After this, he moved back to Chicago, remarried, and began performing as ‘Pogo the Clown’ at a number of parties.
In the Chicago area, he tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered several young men, leading to his arrest in December 1978 after he murdered his final victim, 15-year-old Robert Piest.
A police investigation led to Gacy, who admitted to killing Piest in addition to 32 others. 29 bodies were recovered from his property while it emerged that four other bodies were dumped in the Des Plaines River.
At the time, he was considered the worst serial killer in American history, and was on death row for 14 years before the date of his execution.
On 10 May, 1994, Gacy was given a three-drug lethal injection to end his life, as crowds gathered outside the prison to fight for and against the death penalty.
His last words have been said to have been ‘Kiss my a**’, but it turns out that this is just the stuff of urban legend, as prison officials said that his last words were about his execution being unreasonable, and that ‘taking his life would not compensate for the loss of the others’.
Officials from the prison say Gacy sent a message about the death penalty before being killed (Bettman/Getty)
You could believe that, but William Kunkle – a chief prosecutor during Gacy’s trial – then reported that Gacy didn’t actually say anything at all while awaiting the lethal injection, adding further confusion.
What is for certain though, is that Gacy didn’t have the last word, as crowds outside the prison cheered, according to reports.
The day before his death, Gacy was eerily calm according to reports, enjoying his final meal, which included some KFC chicken, as a picnic with his family.
Gacy spoke about sports and other everyday subjects with visitors, seemingly unfazed about what was to come the next day.Featured Image Credit: Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images / Netflix
A death row inmate whose lawyers argued he was ‘intellectually disabled’ and should be spared the death penalty has been executed in Georgia.
Willie James Pye was convicted in 1996 of the November 1993 robbery, kidnapping, rape and murder of former girlfriend Alicia Lynn Yarbrough.
The 59-year-old was executed at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison last night (20 March) at 11:03 pm local time.
The time of Pye’s execution had been pushed back by four hours as his legal representatives continued to argue that he should avoid the death penalty due to being ‘intellectually disabled’.
Georgia Department of Corrections
According to WXGA, a plea for clemency was put to Georgia’s State Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday (19 March) and testimony from Pye’s lawyers was heard, but clemency was denied.
Before his death, Pye had his final meal, which the Daily Star reported consisted of two chicken sandwiches, two cheeseburgers, french fries, two bags of crisps and two lemon-lime sodas.
Despite his plea attempt and efforts from his lawyers, Pye was taken to a designated viewing area inside the Georgia prison where witnesses watched his execution through glass.
While the death row inmate accepted a final prayer from a chaplain, he declined the opportunity to speak final words before a lethal injection was administered.
WGXA reported that after the injection was administered, the 59-year-old began taking deep breaths while being attended by medical professionals.
They reported that Pye’s right shoulder twitched slightly before it stopped moving and he died.
Medical professionals then confirmed that he had died and his time of death was confirmed.
Carter Smith/Sygma via Getty Images
Pye’s execution date had been confirmed on 29 February, and stated that he could be executed between noon 20 March and noon 27 March.
The Georgia Supreme Court said that in 1993 Pye and two other men, Chester Adams and Anthony Freeman, had been planning to rob Charles Puckett, a man Pye’s former girlfriend Alicia Lynn Yarbrough was living with.
They had heard that Puckett had just received money from a lawsuit and planned to rob him, with Pye bringing a gun along.
When they arrived at Puckett’s house only Yarbrough and her baby were inside, and she was held at gunpoint before being kidnapped, with her baby abandoned alone in the house.
The three men raped Yarbrough at gunpoint before murdering her, with police finding her body several hours later.
A jury found Pye guilty of murder in 1996.
Death row inmate Kenneth Smith made a chilling final statement before he was killed by a controversial method that has never been used before.
The 58-year-old was executed by nitrogen hypoxia at 8.25pm CST (02.25am GMT) at the Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama yesterday (25 January).
It marks the first time the method – which is only authorised by three states; Alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi – has ever been used.
Smith, who was convicted of the murder-for-hire of Alamaba woman Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in 1988, previously spoke of his fears about the execution following a botched attempt to put him to death using the lethal injection in November 2022.
He complained that this had left him with profound trauma, including PTSD, ‘severe and ongoing physical and psychological pain’, nightmares, hypervigilance and disassociation.
As the rescheduled date loomed nearer, he put his feelings down on paper and spoke of his concern that the same thing would happen again.
The killer said: “I am worried that we have told Alabama that these risks could happen – will happen – just like we warned them last year. And they will do nothing to prevent these dangers from happening.”
After nitrogen gas was selected as a new method of execution, lawyers representing him claimed that it would violate his rights under the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects people against ‘cruel and unusual’ punishments.
Alabama Department of Corrections
However, the US Supreme Court on Wednesday (24 January) declined to hear Smith’s appeal and denied the death row inmate’s request to halt the execution.
Smith’s spiritual advisor, Rev Dr Jeff Hood, had previously said he would share the Eucharist with him before entering the chamber and anointing his head with oil until a mask was placed on his face and prayers began.
He also revealed that everyone who was going in the death chamber were putting their own lives at risk incase the nitrogen gas leaked from the mask.
Before the nitrogen was administered yesterday, Smith shared some final words and gestured lovingly to his family and those watching the moment through a glass window.
His final words were: “Tonight, Alabama caused humanity to take a step backward. I am leaving with love, peace and light – thank you for supporting me. I love all of you.”
Smith then made an ‘I love you’ sign in sign language towards his family before the never-before-used execution method got underway.
Despite Alabama claiming that the nitrogen method was ‘perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised’, eyewitness statements from reporters present in the death chamber suggested that this was not the case.
Pexels
Marty Roney of the Montgomery Advertiser reported that at one point, “Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney. He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently with his eyes rolling in the back of his head.”
Roney went on: “Smith clenched his fists, his legs shook … He seemed to be gasping for air. The gurney shook several times.”
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, this use of nitrogen hypoxia is the first of its kind anywhere in the world and ethical questions have been raised on using the untested method of execution.
Nitrogen hypoxia is a form of execution where a person is deprived of oxygen until they are breathing only nitrogen gas, killing them via asphyxiation.
Already making up around 80 percent of the air we breathe, nitrogen is not lethal unless separated from oxygen.
The State of Alabama said in court filings that with the execution method they expect a person to lose consciousness within seconds and die within minutes, though a number of medical professionals have contested this claim.
Featured Image Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections/Getty Stock Images
A Death Row inmate who survived his execution after 18 failed attempts to administer a lethal injection instead died behind bars of something else.
He was not the first Death Row prisoner to avoid his execution date due to a failure to deliver a lethal injection, with the recently executed Kenneth Smith surviving his first execution due to a failure with a lethal injection.
American man Romell Broom was sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton, who he had killed in September 1984.
Broom had been paroled from prison in May of that year after raping a 12-year-old girl and committing armed robbery in 1975.
He was arrested in December 1984 after assaulting and abducting an 11-year-old girl where the child’s mother had held onto his car and screamed for help.
That had given two witnesses time to spot his license plate and he was arrested the same day.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Broom tried to offer a deal of pleading guilty in exchange for a 30 year sentence but this offer was refused and he was sentenced to death.
He spent around 25 years on Death Row before his sentence was due to be carried out on 15 September, 2009.
However, Broom survived his execution after those meant to administer the lethal injection spent two hours and 18 attempts trying to find a vein to establish a viable IV line.
Prison staff inserted the IV 18 times but were unable to find a suitable vein, and on one attempt they instead struck bone.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a doctor who examined Broom after the failed execution attempt described the 18 unsuccessful attempts to set an IV line as ‘somewhere between malpractice and assault’.
Broom then tried to challenge the state of Ohio’s authority to execute him, but the state’s Supreme Court judged in 2016 that he could be executed.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Justice Judith Lanzinger gave the court’s opinion that the 18 attempts to administer a lethal injection did not constitute a botched execution as setting the IV line is a preliminary step and not the actual act of execution itself.
The Death Row inmate had tried to claim that another execution attempt would violate laws against placing a person in jeopardy of life twice.
However, the court decided that since his executioners had failed to set an IV line after 18 attempts and not actually administered the drug his life had not actually been in jeopardy.
The court also denied Broom’s claim that a second execution attempt would count as a cruel and unusual punishment, as their assumption was that prison personnel would carry out the execution successfully.
Broom’s next execution date was set for 17 June, 2020 but in April of that year he was granted a reprieve due to the lack of execution drugs available.
The convicted murderer’s execution date was put back to 16 March, 2022 but before he reached that date he died in prison due to suspected complications from Covid-19.
Featured Image Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Joe Harker
Most disturbing final words of killers executed on Death Row
Death Row victims and their most disturbing final words have been revealed.
No matter who you are or what you have done – to know you are saying your last ever words – must be a frightening prospect for some.
While god-fearing individuals will tend to utter similar-ish sentences, those who are scared/unconcerned with the unknown, sometimes write the most eerie last words.
A bizarre website has devised a long list of Death Row inmates and their final words.
Below is a few of the more shocking and strange ones we’ve seen:
Texas Dept of Criminial Justice
After opening fire at a Hannah Montana-themed children’s party, Erick Davila, 31, was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Before his passing in April 2018, Davilla said he believed there was a rival gang present nearby.
Instead, he shot and killed Queshawn Stevenson, 5, and her grandmother Annette Stevenson, 48.
A woman and three more children were also injured as a result of the terrible shooting.
Davila was apparently a member of the ‘Bloods’ street gang, according to prosecutors at the time.
He told the investigators his aim was to end the life of Queshawn’s dad.
Davilla’s last words were certainly chilling, as he said: “I would like to say nephew it burns huh. You know I might have lost the fight but I’m still a soldier. I still love you all. To my supporters and family y’all hold it down. Ten Toes down right. That’s all.”
Murderpedia
Danielle Simpson killed his former schoolteacher Geraldine Davidson, 84, in 2000.
A 20-year-old Simpson, along with his teenage wife, teenage brother and 13-year-old cousin issued a burglary attempt as Davidson – who got in the way – was put in a car boot and thrown into a river with a cinder block tied to her ankles.
Simpson wrote: “If I can’t be free – Kill Me!
“I’m tired of being in a institution that’s unjust, degrading, and corrupted… I’m tired of struggling to survive in a system that’s highly injustices. I’m ready to die!
“Yeah, I want to tell my family I love ya’ll. Tell Kate I love her too. Tell brother, my kids I live ya’ll. I’m gonna miss ya’ll. I’m ready, ready.”
67-year-old Lester Bower spent 31-years on Death Row for killing four men at an aircraft hanger in 1983.
He was given a lethal dose of pentobarbital.
“Much has been written about this case, not all of it has been the truth,” his last words read.
“But the time is over and now it is time to move on. I want to thank my attorneys for all that they have done. They have afforded me the last quarter of a century.”
