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Published 13:37 20 May 2026 GMT
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.
The teenage student was last seen at East High School in Kansas City, Missouri on January 22, 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. He then drove her to his home before raping and fatally stabbing her.
Her body was dismembered with a chainsaw and partially burned in a fireplace before her captor 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. He was arrested after neighbors saw him attempting to burn Mary's body.
He was formerly sentenced to death on January 23, 2004.
When his time on death row came to an end, Purkey - who was said to be suffering from dementia - had reportedly requested pecan pie as his last meal, asking to save it for later.
Though, he mistakingly did not realize that there would not be a "later" for him.
However, this would quickly become the least of his concerns.
After he was 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".
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. "He needed to take his last breath, he took my daughter's last breath," William Long, Jennifer's father, said.
