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Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
A death row inmate who admitted he deserves to die for killing, sexually abusing, and planning to eat a 10-year-old girl has labeled his execution as being 'needlessly cruel'.
At 10.14am yesterday (December 19), Kevin Ray Underwood died by way of lethal injection 18 years on from when he brutally murdered Jamie Rose Bolin by striking her over the head with a chopping board before proceeding to suffocate her.
In 2006, a 26-year-old Underwood enticed the little girl back to his apartment before carrying out the heinous act as he intended to eat her.
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When authorities showed up at his door, the former grocery store shelf stacker confessed saying 'go ahead and arrest me. She is in there; I chopped her up'. Inside his apartment, cops found a meat tenderizer alongside barbecue skewers.
He has been described as 'deeply evil' for his crimes, which also saw him almost behead the little girl in his bathtub.
The crime was supposedly part of a horrifying cannibalistic and sexual fantasy. He did not end up eating the young girl, but confessed he had tried to have sex with her body.
“I recognize that although I do not want to die … I deserve to for what I did,” he said according to local reports.
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“And if my death could … change what I did, I would gladly die.”
He apologised to Jamie's family as well as his own: “I can’t believe I did those things."
He insisted: “The person I was in the weeks leading up to that event is not who I am now.”
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For the his last meal, he had a cheeseburger with fries and ketchup, pinto beans, a hot roll, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and a can of cola from the prison canteen.
Now, in his final statement the 45-year-old said: “The decision to execute me on my birthday and six days before Christmas was a needlessly cruel thing to do to my family.
"But I’m very sorry for what I did and I wish I could take it back.”
It came after he appeared in front of the Pardon and Parole Board who unanimously voted against clemency last Friday (December 13).
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Attorney General Gentner Drummond called him 'a deeply evil monster' and praised the decision to deny his clemency.
He said: "Justice will be delivered for Jamie Rose Bolin.”
Underwood’s representatives said he should be spared due to a long list of mental health problems that he suffers from.
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The assistant Attorney General said his mental health cannot be used as an excuse: “Mr. Underwood chose Jamie because he thought that she was small and defenseless and easy prey.
“And while we, as an enlightened society, can give grace to those struggling with mental illness, we can still expect them to refrain from planning the murder, rape, torture, and cannibalism of 10-year-old little girls.”
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org
Topics: Crime, Death Row, Mental Health, US News, Sexual Abuse
Joe Yates