Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
It seems wild to me that some of the most wicked people on the planet are given whatever they want for their last meal.
Yet, in 12 of the 19 states that allow capital punishment, they are - and the heinous Gary Carl Simmons Jr took advantage of that as he ordered a 29,000-calorie meal before he was executed by way of lethal injection at the Mississippi State Penitentiary.
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In August 1996, the grocery store butcher murdered 21-year-old Jeffrey Wolfe when he and his girlfriend drove from Houston to Mississippi to collect a drug debt believed to be in the region of $12,000 and $20,000.
When Wolfe arrived at the house, he was met by Simmons and his accomplice Timothy Milano, who told their victim they did not have the money for him.
An argument arose and it ended in Milano fatally shooting Wolfe with a .22-caliber rifle, meanwhile the despicable men caught Wolfe's girlfriend, hog-tied her and locked her in a footlocker before Simmons later raped her.
Court documents said he told her that ‘her life depended on how well she performed sexually’, before throwing her back in the box.
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He then went to the bathroom where he used his meat carving knives from his place of work to dismember and gut Wolfe’s body in the bathtub, before scattering his remains in an alligator-infested bayou in 1996.
Almost 20 years later, in June 2012, Simmons finally faced his punishment.
For his final meal he requested so much that it could have fed a few dozen people.
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From Pizza Hut he ordered a medium Super Supreme Deep Dish pizza, double portion, with mushrooms, onions, jalapeño peppers and pepperoni; pizza, regular portion, with three cheeses, olives, bell pepper, tomato, garlic and Italian sausage.
He wasn't finished there as he also ordered 10 8-oz. packs of Parmesan cheese; 10 8-oz. packs of ranch dressing; one family size pack of Doritos nacho cheese flavour; eight oz. jalapeño nacho cheese and four oz. sliced jalapeños.
Then from McDonald's he ordered two large strawberry shakes; two 20-oz. cherry Cokes; one super-size order of McDonald's fries with extra ketchup and mayonnaise; and two pints of strawberry ice cream.
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It is unclear if he ate the entire meal, however, ninety minutes before his execution, at a press conference held at 4.45 p.m. the Department of Corrections claimed he had eaten about half of his meal and sampled everything but the fries, a local blog reported.
So, how did he get caught?
His victim, who he'd caged in a footlocker, managed to escape from the box and run to a neighbor’s house where she called police.
Following his arrest, Simmons was convicted in August 1997 for kidnapping, rape and capital murder, and was sentenced to death.
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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, True crime, Food and Drink
Joe Yates