Credit: Kansas Department of Corrections via The Federal Bureau of Prisons
Death Row Inmate Suffered ‘Excruciating’ Execution After Making Last Meal ‘Mistake’
A death row inmate suffered an ‘excruciating’ execution after making a ‘mistake’ in his last meal request.
The practice of giving condemned prisoners a final meal before execution has been around for centuries, though its origins are darker than you might expect.
Reddit reports that historians believe it started from an old superstition – people thought that if they shared food with the condemned, the person’s ghost wouldn’t come back to haunt them. Pretty grim.
Over the years, though, it became less about superstition and more about showing a last bit of humanity to someone about to die.
In the United States, most states with the death penalty let inmates request a special last meal, but there are rules.
Texas actually got rid of special last meals altogether back in 2011 after one prisoner ordered a massive spread and didn’t touch a bite of it.
It’s a strange tradition when you think about it, and people are split on whether it’s a decent thing to do or just weird. Either way, the last meal remains one of the most human moments in an otherwise brutal process.
Wesley Ira Purkey, 68, was placed on death row in 2004 for kidnapping, raping, and murdering 16-year-old schoolgirl Jennifer Long in 1998.
He reportedly lured the young girl into his pickup truck outside of a supermarket after she was last seen skipping lessons on January 22.
Purkey proceeded to violently r*** and murder Long, and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl’s body in a septic pond.
Long’s remains are yet to be found.
A pattern of violence
Purkey’s crimes didn’t end with Jennifer Long’s murder. He also beat 80-year-old polio sufferer Mary Bales to death in October 1998 with a claw hammer after he had been to her house to fix a kitchen tap.
He was arrested after the victim’s neighbors became aware of what had happened.
Purkey pleaded guilty to Bales’ murder and was sentenced to life in prison. He then confessed to Long’s murder and was given the death penalty.
The brutal execution
Purkey was executed in 2020 after he was given a lethal injection of pentobarbital, as per the Death Penalty Information Center.
His autopsy revealed that he suffered ‘severe bilateral acute pulmonary oedema and ‘frothy pulmonary oedema in the trachea and main stem bronchi.’
This means that fluid entered his lungs and trachea quickly, leading to him feeling ‘a near-drowning’ sensation, which medical experts describe as one of the ‘most excruciating feelings known to man,’ according to news.com.au.
Dr. Gail Van Norman explained: “It is a virtual medical certainty that most, if not all, prisoners will experience excruciating suffering, including sensations of drowning and suffocation from [the lethal injection drug] pentobarbital.”
Final words of remorse
Purkey reportedly expressed remorse in his final words, saying (via Daily Star): “I deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to Jennifer’s family. I am deeply sorry. I deeply regret the pain I caused to my daughter, who I love so very much.
“This sanitized murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever.”
Long’s family were present at the execution, with her father William saying: “We took care of today, what we needed to take care of. It has been a long time coming.
“He needed to take his last breath — he took my daughter’s last breath. And there’s some resolve. There is no closure, and there never will be because I won’t get my daughter back.”
The final meal mistake
In his final days, it’s believed Purkey suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, as per AP News.
The night before his execution, the inmate reportedly saw Bill Clinton on TV and said that he would vote for him in the upcoming presidential election.
Purkey is believed to have asked for pecan pie for his last meal. He asked to have it ‘later,’ unaware there wouldn’t be a ‘later.’
Due to his Alzheimer’s disease, Purkey didn’t fully comprehend that his execution was imminent and that he would never have another opportunity to eat the pecan pie he had requested.
The request to save his final meal for later revealed a man who had lost touch with the reality of his situation. It was a poignant reminder of how dementia had robbed him of his ability to understand even the most basic aspects of his final hours.
Prison staff reportedly tried to explain to Purkey that he should eat the pie when it was served, but his confused mental state meant he couldn’t grasp the urgency or finality of the moment.
Related Article: Death Row Killer Used Final Words To Deliver Hidden Three-Word Message To His Family
Related Article: Woman On Death Row Performed Defiant Final Act Before She Was Executed
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