A death row inmate used his dying words to beg for forgiveness from a woman he shot 20 years ago in a home invasion and robbery that took the life of her best friend.
Wendell Arden Grissom, 56, shot his way into Dreu Kopf’s home in Watong on November 3, 2005 and fatally shot her best friend, Amber Matthews, 23, as she tried to shield Kopf’s two young daughters.
Grissom did not know either woman and is believed to have targeted the home at random.
He was later convicted of first degree murder, shooting with intent to kill, grand larceny and possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony, and was sentenced to death, according to the Oklahoman.
As his execution date neared, Grissom did not seek any emergency stays in court and did not speak at a clemency hearing in February.
Then, as he laid on the gurney with an IV line affixed to his left arm on Thursday, Grissom asked for forgiveness.
‘I apologize to all of you that I’ve hurt,’ he said in his last remarks. ‘I regret so much that I’ve put that hatred in your heart for me.’
Grissom went on to note that he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol on the fateful day.
Wendell Arden Grissom, 56, was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on Thursday
Kopf’s now adult daughters joined her at the execution on Thursday
‘It’s still my fault,’ the convicted killer admitted. ‘I’m not who I made myself look like that one day.’
He added that he knows he does not deserve forgiveness, but prayed that ‘you all can forgive me, not for my sake – for your sake.’
That, he said, ‘is the only way you will find God in this.’
But Kopf, who was watching the execution with her now adult daughters, said the apology came ‘too late.’
‘I had eight bullet holes in my body and there’s still bullets in me,’ she told reporters following Grissom’s death.
‘I was always scared. If someone knocked on the door, I would call 911… I’d go to Walmart and a guy would walk with a backpack and I thought… there was going to be another shooting. I lived in constant fear.’
Her daughter, Rylee, who is now 20, also said she thought Grissom’s death was ‘a long time coming.’
Matthews had been visiting her friend, Dreu Kopf, and her two young daughters on November 3, 2005 – and died trying to protect the young girls (picture credit: Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General)
He was convicted of first degree murder, shooting with intent to kill, grand larceny and possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony in the November 2005 death of Amber Matthews, 23 (pictured)
She had told USA Today how she watched as her mom suffered in the years following the shooting.
‘My mom would probably, with no exaggeration, call my dad 100 times a day, asking when he’s going to be home and if he couldn’t give her an answer, she would call back,’ Rylee said. ‘She didn’t want to be home alone.’
Other family members described how she was ‘paralyzed by fear’ following the November 3, 2005 shooting.
Prosecutors have said Grissom – who already had a lengthy criminal record – picked up a homeless hitchhiker named Jessie Johns two days earlier.
They drank whiskey during the drive and discussed plans to commit robberies or burglaries, the Oklahoman reports.
As they approached Wantoga, the duo randomly selected Kopf’s home – where Matthews was visiting.
Grissom initially asked Kopf if her husband was in, but then shot his way through the sliding glass door into the home – laughing as he fired his weapon, according to court documents.
Grissom and a hitchhiker he picked up, Jessie Johns, were arrested after hitching a ride to a café in a nearby county
Kopf tried to fight him off, jumping on him as Matthews fled with Kopf’s then five-week-old daughter, Gracie, into a room where her 19-month-old, Rylee, was sleeping.
Kopf was shot in the wrist, hand, shoulder, head and hip before she managed to escape in the shooter’s truck in an effort to flag down help.
As she fled, Kopf said she heard Matthews scream ‘Please don’t shoot me!’ before Grissom shot her in the back of the head and then again in the forehead as she clung to one of the girls.
Johns then allegedly also entered the home, and the two men fled, on a stolen four-wheeler, but quickly ran out of gas and were taken into custody after hitching a ride to a café in a nearby county.
Authorities then found Kopf’s daughters still inside the home, physically unhurt.
Matthews was airlifted to an Oklahoma City hospital, but was later pronounced dead.
Grissom´s attorneys did not dispute his guilt but argued at a clemency hearing that he suffered from brain damage that was never presented to a jury.
They also noted that he has always accepted responsibility and even wrote an apology to Matthews’ family during his first interview with police.
Matthews had pleaded for her life in the moments before Grissom shot her in the head (picture credit: Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General)
At the time of his first confession, Grissom asked cops if the state has the death penalty.
When he was told that it does, he said, ‘I want it… I just want my life to be over with.’
In a second confession, he said, ‘I didn’t plan or mean for any of it to happen. I don’t know why it did.
‘All I do know is that it was senseless and I was not in any right state of mind… I wish to God that it had never happened,’ he said, according to the Oklahoman.
In a text message to his spiritual advisor in January, Grissom also wrote that he was not scared of dying because he knew where he was going.
‘I’ll finally be free from this place and all, you know,’ he texted, according to USA Today. ‘I for sure do not want to spend the rest of my life in this sorry place.’
On Monday, Grissom also told Newsweek that he has asked God for forgiveness.
‘I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stressed out or worried about it, but I know where I stand with God,’ he said.
‘I’m not scared of dying necessarily because I know that I’ve asked for forgiveness. I’m not worthy of it, I admit that, but Jesus Christ died on that cross for everybody – that includes me and you.’
Grissom enjoyed a last meal of a medium thick-crust Canadian Bacon Supreme pizza, a pint of vanilla ice cream and a pint of Coke (picture credit: Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General)
Then on Thursday, Grissom enjoyed a last meal of a medium thick-crust Canadian Bacon Supreme pizza, a pint of vanilla ice cream and a pint of Coke.
When he was then brought into the room to be executed, a spiritual advisor prayed at his feet as the lethal drugs began to flow.
He exhaled forcefully several times and could be heard snoring when a doctor entered the execution chamber and declared him unconscious about five minutes later. He appeared to stop breathing at 10:09 a.m. and the color started to drain from his face while more than two dozen of Matthew’s friends and family watched on.
‘This was probably as flawless of an execution that we’ve had in terms of the process,’ Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Steven Harpe said in the aftermath.
He noted that Grissom had been telling staff at the prison he was ready for this day to come, KOCO reports.
‘Wendell Grissom faced his death bravely,’ Harpe said. ‘He repeatedly expressed remorse and made peace with his execution.’
Johns, now 74, meanwhile, is serving a life sentence in prison without parole after being convicted in a separate trial of first-degree murder and grand larceny in the case.
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