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Published 10:33 22 May 2026 GMT
The last words of a death row inmate who made a 'mistake' with his last meal before his execution have been revealed.
As previously reported, 68-year-old Wesley Ira Purkey had an "excruciating" execution in July 2020 after spending 16 years on death row.
He had been convicted of kidnapping, raping, and then murdering 16-year-old schoolgirl Jennifer Long in 1998.
The teenage student was last seen at East High School in Kansas City, Missouri, on January 22, 1998, and the alarm was raised after she failed to attend lessons.
Purkey reportedly lured the girl into his pick-up truck outside a grocery store before driving her to his home, where he raped and fatally stabbed her.
Long's body was dismembered with a chainsaw and partially burned in a fireplace before Purkey buried her remains in a septic pond in Clearwater, Kansas. Jennifer's remains have never been found, per the Death Penalty Information Center.
Purkey then 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, and was arrested after neighbors saw him attempting to burn Mary's body.
A death row inmate had an "excruciating" execution after making a mistake with his last meal, according to an autopsy report.
Wesley Ira Purkey was 68 years old when he died by lethal injection after he was placed on death row in 2004 for kidnapping, raping, and then murdering 16-year-old schoolgirl Jennifer Long in 1998.
He was sentenced to death in January 2004 and would remain on death row until July 16, 2020, when he was executed using the lethal injection.
When his execution date rolled around, Purkey - who was said to be suffering from dementia - had reportedly requested pecan pie as his last meal, and asked to save it for later.
However, he seemingly did not realize that there would not be a "later" for him.
This would soon become the least of his concerns, as Purkey's autopsy report detailed his execution, showing he likely died an "excruciating" death.
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".
Dr Gail Van Norman, a Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, 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."
Purkey's final words before he was executed at an Indiana prison reportedly 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 reported that Jennifer's father and stepmother told reporters that Purkey's execution was long overdue.
William Long, Jennifer's father, stated: "He needed to take his last breath, he took my daughter's last breath."
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