A death row inmate suffered an "excruciating" execution after making a mistake with his last meal, a disturbing autopsy report has revealed.
Wesley Ira Purkey was 68 years old when he was executed by lethal injection, after being placed on death row in 2004 for kidnapping, raping, and subsequently murdering 16-year-old schoolgirl Jennifer Long in 1998. The teenager was last seen at East High School in Kansas City, Missouri on January 22 after skipping lessons.
Purkey reportedly lured the young teen into his pick-up truck outside a supermarket. He then drove her to his home before raping and stabbing her to death. He then dismembered her body with a chainsaw and partially burned it in a fireplace before burying her remains in a septic pond in Clearwater, Kansas. Jennifer's remains have never been found, The Mirror detailed.
Following this, Purkey beat 80-year-old polio sufferer Mary Bales to death with a claw hammer. He had been to Mary's home to fix a kitchen tap when he carried out the murder. He was then arrested after neighbors saw him trying to burn Mary's body.
After being executed by lethal injection, Purkey's autopsy revealed that he suffered "severe bilateral acute pulmonary oedema" and "frothy pulmonary oedema in trachea and main stem bronchi".
This essentially meant that fluid quickly entered his lungs and trachea, causing "a near-drowning" sensation which a medical expert described as "among the most excruciating feelings known to man", per News.com.au.
Dr Gail Van Norman, a medical expert, said the filling of Purkey's lungs could only have happened while he was still alive. "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."
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Purkey - who allegedly suffered from dementia - had reportedly requested pecan pie as his last meal, asking to save it for later. Though, he did not realize that there would not be a later.
According to The Daily Star, Purkey's final words before being executed at an Indiana prison were: "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."
The New York Times detailed that Jennifer's father and stepmother told reporters that Purkey's execution was long overdue. "He needed to take his last breath, he took my daughter's last breath," William Long, Jennifer's father, said.