Death row inmate's last meal revealed as he gave chilling 3-minute statement before execution
Topics: Crime, Food and Drink, Death Row, True crime
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: South Carolina Department of Corrections
Topics: Crime, Food and Drink, Death Row, True crime
A murderer’s final meal has been revealed, and it’s a little stranger than what you’ve previously heard before about last dishes.
The final meals and final words of killers is some sort of intrigue that many of us have.
We want to know what these scary people have to say after committing such awful crimes, but we also want to know what they would choose to eat for the last time.
For me, If I could only eat one thing before death, it would be either baclava or a feta and spinach filo pie.
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Why? Because it’s damned good.
But that’s not to say that others will have something entirely different that they’d prefer to eat.
In fact, some killers choose the most outrageous thing to eat before being executed.
There have been people who order olives, childhood treats, a platter of different food, or simply nothing at all.
But what Stephen Stanko ordered is a little out of the ordinary.
The double murderer was executed by lethal injection after he ate his last meal, having been sentenced for the deaths of two people.
Handed two death sentences, he murdered Henry Turner and cleared his bank account in 2005 and had also strangled girlfriend Laura Ling hours before in her home.
The 57-year-old also raped and slit the throat of the woman’s teenage daughter, who thankfully survived the ordeal.
Stanko chowed down on a cherry pie and banana pudding in his last hours, opting for a sweet treat after a hearty meal.
The killer then made a three-minute statement at the Columbia state prison, South Carolina, before being killed.
He asked to not be judged for his crimes and apologized for his killings.
He said: “I have lived for approximately 20,973 days but I am judged solely for one.
“Once I am gone, I hope that Laura’s family and Henry’s family can all forgive me.
"The execution may help them. Forgiveness will heal them.”
His last meal consisted of fried fish, shrimp, crab cakes, baked potato, carrots, okra, sweet tea, and then his pie and pudding.
The killer was then pronounced dead at 6.34pm local time on June 12, just 28 minutes after the first injection was administered.
While his dinner may have been rather copious, he certainly isn't the only one to pile on the food before biting the bullet.
Killer clown John Wayne Gacy asked for a bucket of KFC chicken, 12 fried prawns, a pound of strawberries, french fries, and a Diet Coke.
Murderer Charles Walker ate fried wild rabbit, biscuits, and blackberry pie, and Timothy McVeigh asked for two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
However, some killers don't even wish to choose their own food, like Ted Bundy, the notorious serial killer who murdered dozens of women and young girls. Before his sentence, Bundy ate the 'standard' steak cooked medium-rare, eggs over easy, hash browns, toast with butter and jelly, milk, and juice, instead of picking what he preferred.