Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Wednesday, April twenty second, and a
Speaker 1: family that waited thirty six years for justice finally saw
Speaker 1: the man responsible for their loved ones death executed last night.
Speaker 2: Was that closure? Not exactly?
Speaker 1: When you hear his final words and with that, welcome
Speaker 1: to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2: Rose.
Speaker 1: There's always a fascination with final words. I'm always usually
Speaker 1: a little surprised at it. And you know what, Robes,
Speaker 1: this is. Is this the last thing a family wants
Speaker 1: to hear in this moment when you're finally watching the
Speaker 1: person be punished for what they did to your family.
Speaker 3: No, in a very simple way to respond to you,
Speaker 3: I think this was an opportunity for peace, for closure,
Speaker 3: and instead, last night Chadwick Scott Willisey gave the family
Speaker 3: of the woman he was convicted of viciously murdering anything
Speaker 3: butt closure. In fact, he left them with questions, he
Speaker 3: left them with pain.
Speaker 4: It was a final blow.
Speaker 1: And yes, there is a that's that man. That's no
Speaker 1: other way to put it. We haven't gotten it. And
Speaker 1: you tell me, Robes, we'll get into the crime. Because
Speaker 1: we've been talking about this story and this execution coming up,
Speaker 1: and once again it happened in Florida there, fifth of
Speaker 1: the year, eighth in the country. But robes this case.
Speaker 1: Have you seen a reaction from the family yet? Before
Speaker 1: we get into it is what I want to ask.
Speaker 1: Have you seen them react to what he said in
Speaker 1: the descrit.
Speaker 3: I have not seen any reaction to what he said,
Speaker 3: only that they had been waiting for this day for
Speaker 3: thirty six years.
Speaker 1: And a reminder here, folks, again, this was nineteen ninety correct.
Speaker 1: Neighbor walks in on him robbing her home. He beats her,
Speaker 1: ties her up, takes her debit card, goes to the bank,
Speaker 1: gets her money out, comes back like he tied her up.
Speaker 1: He essentially tortured woman and then lights her on fire.
Speaker 1: She died or do I have it right? Smoke in elation?
Speaker 3: Her cause of death was smoking elation. Yes, she was
Speaker 3: bludgeoned first, then strangled with the telephone cord, got her
Speaker 3: pin number with that torture, and then not only did
Speaker 3: he set her on fire. For whatever reason, this part
Speaker 3: of the story just stood out to me. The fact
Speaker 3: that he took the time to set a fan, to
Speaker 3: plug it in, and to like blow the fan on
Speaker 3: her as he set her on fire. To ignite or
Speaker 3: to further fan the flames to kill her. And yes,
Speaker 3: she died of smoking elation. It was his fingerprints on
Speaker 3: that fan that was part of the evidence that convicted
Speaker 3: him ultimately of her torturous, brutal, vicious murder.
Speaker 1: She was alive when she was set on fire. So
Speaker 1: what we're talking about is not necessarily a case where
Speaker 1: people were beating some drum of this man's innocence at all.
Speaker 1: But one person who was is.
Speaker 4: Him Chadwick Scott Willis.
Speaker 1: That willisye is the guy who has maintained his innocence. However,
Speaker 1: Robes and his appeals here in the last few days
Speaker 1: and weeks leading up to execution, he was making appeals,
Speaker 1: but he wasn't arguing for new evidence or arguing for
Speaker 1: his innocence.
Speaker 3: No, he says he's innocent, but he had never offered
Speaker 3: any proof for any sort of explanation or any other
Speaker 3: theory where he was beating that drum to say, hey,
Speaker 3: let me out because I didn't do this.
Speaker 4: No, he was trying.
Speaker 3: To stop the state from executing him based on their
Speaker 3: execution practices, based on the lethal injection protocol. It was technical,
Speaker 3: not evidentiary that he was trying to basically stop his execution.
Speaker 1: All right, so as we lead now, this all now
Speaker 1: leads us up to letting you set the stage for
Speaker 1: last night and his last words. Execution schedule for six
Speaker 1: o'clock apparently went off without a hitch, no issues anything,
Speaker 1: they are reported, but always of interest what the final
Speaker 1: words will be. There were members of the family of
Speaker 1: this victim who were there last night to witness so
Speaker 1: robes and his opportunity, as they always give them to
Speaker 1: say their final words. He said several things that we
Speaker 1: can paraphrase, but then he said something directly that we
Speaker 1: have verbatim to the family.
Speaker 3: Yes, he began by apologizing to his own family and friends.
Speaker 3: Then he urged his brothers on the row to stay
Speaker 3: strong the other guy's on death row. And then here's
Speaker 3: what he said, turning to the victim's family. I hope
Speaker 3: this brings you peace. If it does, that's good. But
Speaker 3: this is not right. I would never kill my friend,
Speaker 3: and we were friends. That's tough to hear.
Speaker 4: God bless America out of the.
Speaker 3: Man who a jury of his peers convicted for the
Speaker 3: brutal murder of your mother, and he turns to you
Speaker 3: directly and says this ain't right and.
Speaker 1: Says I didn't do it, and his last opportunity to
Speaker 1: speak on this earth he leaves with I didn't do it.
Speaker 2: I don't know how that sits.
Speaker 1: Maybe the family that just rolls off them and they
Speaker 1: know but rogues in that last moment. Why would he
Speaker 1: take them that. I don't know what that does to
Speaker 1: the family. I'm very curious to hear their reaction.
Speaker 3: I would never kill my friend, and we were friends.
Speaker 3: Even if you believe with one hundred percent of every
Speaker 3: fiber of your being that you believe he is guilty.
Speaker 3: You saw the legal process play out over many, many decades,
Speaker 3: and the consensus was always the same that he, in fact, yes,
Speaker 3: killed this poor woman, Marla Sather, in her own home.
Speaker 3: And still to hear him look you in the eye,
Speaker 3: or to be staring out and saying that, I don't
Speaker 3: know if that ever leaves you and you might have
Speaker 3: just the tiniest bit of guilt that he now postiled
Speaker 3: on you.
Speaker 1: Maybe not well, no, no, that's the thing what I
Speaker 1: would feel, even if it's a point one percent of doubt,
Speaker 1: that's too much to have to deal with that.
Speaker 2: That what is it? What was in his mind is
Speaker 2: psyche that moment.
Speaker 1: Why and you have to wonder an innocent man, I
Speaker 1: stopped your last breath.
Speaker 4: It's your last breath, mate, it wasn't me.
Speaker 2: Is the last thing he wants to say after thirty
Speaker 2: six years on death row and.
Speaker 3: The whole I hope this gives you peace, but it
Speaker 3: ain't right. That's dripping and sarcasm.
Speaker 2: I don't know, no, you d It feels.
Speaker 3: Like why would he so if he really does hope
Speaker 3: his death gives this family peace, but then says this
Speaker 3: isn't right.
Speaker 4: I would never kill my friend and we were friends.
Speaker 3: That just negates everything you just said beforehand, because you
Speaker 3: did anything but give them peace. You now just disrupted
Speaker 3: any piece they might have thought they had.
Speaker 4: And maybe he didn't.
Speaker 3: I'm just looking at it from my perspective, and look,
Speaker 3: they may hate this man and have been waiting for
Speaker 3: this day for so long that whatever he said just
Speaker 3: fell on deaf ears.
Speaker 4: And I hope that's the case.
Speaker 3: But still to just have that be your final I
Speaker 3: feel like that was a final f you. And anyone
Speaker 3: who was capable of doing what a jury convicted him
Speaker 3: of doing would certainly be capable of giving a final
Speaker 3: blow to the family before he.
Speaker 2: Dies, more than I guess you could argue, right rogues.
Speaker 1: But here's the other thing. Has he said any of
Speaker 1: this before last night? Has there been any effort to
Speaker 1: have outreach to the family, been anything in court where
Speaker 1: he was screaming about his innocence. I would never do that.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's just just come now, don't know so what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I set that up to say. Maybe the family heard
Speaker 1: that and thought, yeah, typical, Yeah that's possible. We expected
Speaker 1: that from him, and they just rolled or right on.
Speaker 3: But you know, there are just some things, even if
Speaker 3: you don't think they're true, even if you believe they
Speaker 3: aren't true, that just linger in your head.
Speaker 4: And that's just what I fear for the family.
Speaker 3: I hope that that doesn't happen, but I know if
Speaker 3: it were me, it probably would.
Speaker 1: But we this it out to us Robs because we
Speaker 1: have been keeping an eye a lot on executions in
Speaker 1: the record pace that Florida has been on or it
Speaker 1: listens last year, but it's fascinating to hear some final
Speaker 1: words and they can make a difference. And we juxtaposed
Speaker 1: what we had last night with recent ones that we
Speaker 1: saw robes in which it wasn't just us that heard
Speaker 1: his final words. The family heard it, and the family
Speaker 1: said it was meaningful to hear what he said.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this does matter.
Speaker 3: Yes, this one that really stood out, and this was basically,
Speaker 3: if any person who has been convicted and is on
Speaker 3: death row and is about to be sentenced to death,
Speaker 3: and is it about to meet his or her maker,
Speaker 3: Ciedric Rix, he did it right. March eleventh, twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3: He murdered his girlfriend and her son, nearly killed her
Speaker 3: other son, but spirit his own infant son. What he
Speaker 3: said in his final words was remarkable. We'll read it
Speaker 3: for you, just in juxtaposition of what we just heard
Speaker 3: yesterday from Willisey. Here's what Ciedric Rick said. First, I
Speaker 3: want to say I'm sorry for taking Roxanne and Anthony
Speaker 3: away from y'all. I can't imagine the pain it has
Speaker 3: caused you. I'm glad I'm able to speak to tell
Speaker 3: y'all that face to face. I just hope one day
Speaker 3: you can find forgiveness in your heart so you don't
Speaker 3: have to live with the pain anymore. And to Marcus,
Speaker 3: this is the young son he almost killed. I always
Speaker 3: thought about you, and I'm sorry that I took your
Speaker 3: mom and brother away. I hate that you had to
Speaker 3: experience that I just can't imagine. But I'm truly sorry
Speaker 3: for what I've done. And I wish all peace and
Speaker 3: joy as much as you can, but i'm sorry. I
Speaker 3: can say nothing else. Reyes, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, man, Lonnie,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Marcus, I'm sorry. He basically just tells everyone,
Speaker 3: I don't wish y'all any more pain. I hope y'all
Speaker 3: go in peace. I really do.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Family themselves said I made a difference. Mike didn't, didn't
Speaker 1: have didn't want their hearts necessarily to some killer. But Robes,
Speaker 1: that's closure that they got, admitted what he did, said,
Speaker 1: he's sorved for what he did. He was now given
Speaker 1: that justice for what he did. Finally, that's kind of
Speaker 1: a finally that Robes that to hear them say that
Speaker 1: was meaningful made me now pay attention to final words
Speaker 1: and why the ones from last night hit so hard, like,
Speaker 1: come on, you.
Speaker 3: Ass exactly, and look you think about these folks and
Speaker 3: I don't know how many of them are religious. In fact,
Speaker 3: it should be pointed Willisy didn't meet with the spiritual advisor,
Speaker 3: so he may not have any sort of connection to
Speaker 3: any religion or any spiritual afterlife thoughts, and so maybe
Speaker 3: that's why he was able to just go out with
Speaker 3: an f you.
Speaker 4: But it did.
Speaker 3: It is notable when you read these or you hear
Speaker 3: these final words, I do feel my whole body relaxed,
Speaker 3: like I don't have skin in the game, and I
Speaker 3: feel peace, not peace just for the family, but peace
Speaker 3: for that person who is going on, moving on, passing
Speaker 3: on to something else. There's I would imagine a real
Speaker 3: burden that's lifted off of their shoulders when they admit it,
Speaker 3: when they apologize for it, when they ask for forgiveness.
Speaker 1: And if they'd have done that sooner, maybe they could
Speaker 1: have saved their lives. But they're trying to stay out
Speaker 1: of prison in the first place, where ropes nobody admits
Speaker 1: too much of it.
Speaker 2: Has anyone ever?
Speaker 1: Do people get the death penalty for No, you don't
Speaker 1: get the death penalty when you confess.
Speaker 3: Typically that is that is why people plead guilty, because
Speaker 3: they put the death penalty off the table. They instead
Speaker 3: get life in prison. It's the folks who've refused to admit.
Speaker 3: It's the folks who've refused to plead guilty, those are
Speaker 3: the ones who end up on death row.
Speaker 4: Correct.
Speaker 1: Charles Victor Thompson was another This was the first execution
Speaker 1: of the year. And again Robes another person here who
Speaker 1: used the words sorry in final words.
Speaker 3: Yeah, his final words. This is January twenty eight, twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six. There are no winners in this situation. He
Speaker 3: did say his execution creates more victims and traumatizes more
Speaker 3: people twenty eight years later. But I'm sorry for what
Speaker 3: I did. I'm sorry for what happened, and I want
Speaker 3: to tell all of y'all I love you, and that
Speaker 3: keep Jesus in your life.
Speaker 4: Just keep Jesus first.
Speaker 1: A lot of guys fine religion behind bars, and I
Speaker 1: think it's genuine. I think it's authentic many times. So
Speaker 1: this is a guy who killed his ex girlfriend and
Speaker 1: her new boyfriend. Another horrific crime. But in the end,
Speaker 1: that's what he had to say. Ronald Palmer Palmer Heath,
Speaker 1: this was a pretty vicious crime. This is the one
Speaker 1: in Flits, Florida, right. He murdered a traveling salesman. Short
Speaker 1: and sweet, but still the words sorry got in there.
Speaker 4: Yes, it was.
Speaker 3: I think they said nine words that delivered a powerful
Speaker 3: impact for the victim's family.
Speaker 4: He just said, I'm sorry. That's all I can say.
Speaker 4: Thank you. Right, that's enough.
Speaker 1: The guy Cedric you just mentioned, he had a long statement.
Speaker 1: He said a lot, and it was impactful. But just
Speaker 1: the two words I'm sorry didn't have to explain a
Speaker 1: whole lot. It still meant something.
Speaker 4: It does.
Speaker 1: Man, that's incredible. Well, folks, stay here. We've been sharing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: some final words from folks executed this year. But what
Speaker 1: do you remember what Ted Bundy said? Do you remember
Speaker 1: what some other high profile, even famous killer said in
Speaker 1: their final words?
Speaker 2: Will remind you? Stay here?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 1: We continue here on Amy and TJ following last night's
Speaker 1: execution in Florida. Final words coming from a condemned killer.
Speaker 1: Of those final words were I didn't do it. I
Speaker 1: would never do it. And it had just been here
Speaker 1: discussing rogues the impact they could possibly have on a family.
Speaker 1: We haven't heard from that family just yet of the impact,
Speaker 1: if it had any at all. But I forgot some
Speaker 1: of these. You looked up some of these from the past,
Speaker 1: and I forgot some of it. I can't remember what
Speaker 1: John Wayne Gacy or Ted Bundy or Tim McVay might
Speaker 1: have said in their final ones.
Speaker 2: I do not why do not? Do we not know?
Speaker 2: Is this a thing? And I just forgot what John
Speaker 2: Wayne Gay.
Speaker 3: I did not know this at all. I actually was
Speaker 3: fascinated looking up. I tried to think of some of
Speaker 3: the more famous, notorious killers who've been executed over the decades.
Speaker 3: And John Wayne Gacy one of the most notorious serial killers.
Speaker 3: How many dozens and dozens of little boys as he
Speaker 3: dressed up as a clown, tortured, sexually, assaulted, murder. This
Speaker 3: is as vicious as it gets. He was executed May tenth,
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety four. He had three words for his final words,
Speaker 3: and they were kiss my ass.
Speaker 2: I mean, okay, that's tough. I mean he followed, he
Speaker 2: stayed in on brand, didn't he.
Speaker 3: So I actually was thinking I would prefer that to
Speaker 3: what we heard yesterday from uh, from Willisey, who said
Speaker 3: this is not right. I would never kill my friend,
Speaker 3: we were friends, giving that to the family versus kiss
Speaker 3: my ass.
Speaker 4: Give me kiss my ass. Now I can hate you
Speaker 4: even more.
Speaker 3: Like it's not he's not denying it, he's not asking
Speaker 3: for forgiveness. Fine, but I kind of feel like, yeah,
Speaker 3: he stayed on brand, the vicious killer that he was.
Speaker 4: It doesn't make you feel bad at.
Speaker 2: All, you you know it.
Speaker 1: It's kind of u and I feel I don't feel
Speaker 1: so bad about saying I hope he burns in hell.
Speaker 3: Right, That's exactly what that lends you to feel after
Speaker 3: someone says something like that, who was convicted of doing
Speaker 3: the worst of the worst of the worst to so
Speaker 3: many families. His final words, kiss my ass. I was
Speaker 3: blown away by that, babe. I had no idea. I
Speaker 3: had no idea. Those were John Wayne Gacy's final words.
Speaker 3: All right, Ted Bundy. He was executed January twenty fourth,
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty nine. He was convicted and executed for three
Speaker 3: of the dozens and dozens of murders he admitted to
Speaker 3: I think thirty, but they believe he could have up
Speaker 3: to one hundred victims.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they're still counting they yeah, yeah, there's still
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 3: They're still tying him to murders, just one recently this month,
Speaker 3: based on new DNA technology where they were able to
Speaker 3: actually close some cases of unsolved murders that he was
Speaker 3: always suspected of, but now we know he actually committed.
Speaker 3: So his final words he directed towards his attorneys who
Speaker 3: were there in the room. Interesting, he said, I'd like
Speaker 3: you to give my love to my family and friends.
Speaker 4: That's it. Interesting. Yeah, charming till the end.
Speaker 1: Damn he stayed on brand too, didn't he? And creeps
Speaker 1: you out, like why did he say that? I guess
Speaker 1: there's mystery and injury even around that.
Speaker 3: He probably said it with a smile on his face
Speaker 3: and a twinkle in his eye, because that's what he
Speaker 3: was known for being, charming, being just a lovely person
Speaker 3: who no one would suspect had this horrific, dark, sociopathic
Speaker 3: side to him. So, yeah, that is on brand as well.
Speaker 3: Now I think the next one, Timothy McVeigh, also on brand.
Speaker 3: He was executed executed June eleventh, two thousand and one,
Speaker 3: obviously for the Oklahoma City bombing.
Speaker 4: What would you think? Have you looked at what his
Speaker 4: final words were?
Speaker 1: Yet, he was a militant dude, and he was so
Speaker 1: to think of his mind. He probably went out with
Speaker 1: a bang. He probably went out with a well, maybe
Speaker 1: not a scripture, but something from a manifesto somewhere.
Speaker 4: Okay, I don't know you're on track.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, because I didn't think you looked at this one,
Speaker 3: Timothy McVeigh.
Speaker 4: And again I covered this.
Speaker 3: I remember this day when we woke up the next
Speaker 3: morning and we covered it. I still did not remember.
Speaker 4: This is what he said. It matters not how straight.
Speaker 3: The gate, how charged with punishments the scroll I am
Speaker 3: the master of my fate. I am the captain of
Speaker 3: my soul.
Speaker 2: So it's a poem.
Speaker 3: It rhymed fate scroll soul, you know what I You know,
Speaker 3: I didn't look up to see if he was quoting someone,
Speaker 3: but those were his final words, and again dramatic, you
Speaker 3: would think, wanting to there's a there's a feeling of
Speaker 3: self importance right to that, I would say, And that
Speaker 3: would fit exactly with what Timothy mcvaye's last word.
Speaker 4: Yes he quoted.
Speaker 3: It's the eighteen seventy five poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley.
Speaker 3: So yes, it's a declaration of resilience, self mastery and defiance.
Speaker 3: And that is exactly what you would expect from someone
Speaker 3: like Timothy McVeigh for his final words.
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea we're so we all fear death,
Speaker 1: and part of fearing death is fearing how we're going
Speaker 1: to die, And I'm fascinated. Well, you can't even sit
Speaker 1: and fat and try to piece together what would be
Speaker 1: the last words you had if they knew you were
Speaker 1: going to be your last I don't know, if you
Speaker 1: knew they.
Speaker 2: Were going to be your last, right.
Speaker 4: It would be a message of love. It would be
Speaker 4: a message of love.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously, I know these men aren't known for
Speaker 3: that side of themselves. And to your point, they were
Speaker 3: all on brand, and maybe we just have to acknowledge
Speaker 3: that last night, Chadwick Willisey stayed on brand.
Speaker 1: I was the last thing I'll leave you you with
Speaker 1: as because I found you know me, I started doing
Speaker 1: research on this stuff, and there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: studies on people's last words, and they say it's surprising
Speaker 1: that they don't usually express a fear of death in
Speaker 1: those moments. It's shocking usually. But we are all looking
Speaker 1: at it and all amaze and why we have this
Speaker 1: fascination with final words that goes back hundreds of I
Speaker 1: mean centuries and centuries when they this practice is not
Speaker 1: Nobody can even trace the origins of when the tradition started.
Speaker 4: Of public executions.
Speaker 1: Yes, they think yes, But everybody just give an opportunity
Speaker 1: to say something, and so we have it, we continue it.
Speaker 1: Research has revealed as surprisingly strong predominance of positive emotional
Speaker 1: sentiments and death row inmates last words accompanied by expressions
Speaker 1: of love, affection, apologies, and religion reflecting death row inmates
Speaker 1: existential communication concerns in their final minutes of life. It's like, wow,
Speaker 1: that makes sense.
Speaker 4: It does.
Speaker 3: And I think those are people who believe they are
Speaker 3: going somewhere and they need to make amends, hoping to
Speaker 3: go somewhere, not downward but upward. And there are those
Speaker 3: like Chad mcwillosy who take the opportunity to basically just
Speaker 3: put up a middle finger.
Speaker 1: Or was he also ropes taking a chance to rewrite
Speaker 1: possibly his legacy. He is still going out by saying
Speaker 1: I'm innocent, He's still going out? Is he telling himself?
Speaker 1: That is he trying to tell? So anybody who will listen,
Speaker 1: this thing that goes in line with your existential communication
Speaker 1: concerns in your final minutes.
Speaker 3: He cared what people thought of him exs till in
Speaker 3: the very end, is till the very end of the
Speaker 3: very end?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 3: With that? Everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us.
Speaker 3: I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ.
Speaker 4: Holmes. We will talk to you soon. Morning run is
Speaker 4: coming up.