Brian Dorsey has been executed after being convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband.
Brian Dorsey has been executed after being convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband.
Warning: This story contains content that might be distressing for some readers
A death row inmate who killed his cousin and her husband before sexually assaulting her corpse has apologised to his family for the disturbing crimes he committed before he was executed on Tuesday.
Brian Dorsey was denied two appeals by the US Supreme Court after he murdered Sarah and Ben Bonnie in 2006.
He killed them both, leaving their 4-year-old daughter orphaned just days before Christmas.
The now 52-year-old had been pleading with the pair to borrow money to pay off two drug dealers who were at his apartment.
When asked where her parents were, the girl said her mum “won’t wake up”.
Three days after the murder, Dorsey surrendered to police.
Dorsey’s final words and meal revealed
Moments before his execution he was asked if he had any final words, to which he addressed the actions of his crimes in a letter.
“To all of the family and loved ones I share with Sarah and to all of the surviving family and loved ones of Ben, I am totally, deeply, overwhelmingly sorry,” he wrote.
“Words cannot hold the just weight of my guilt and shame. I still love you. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I am sorry I hurt them and you.”
Several hours before his execution, he received his final meal which consisted of two cheeseburgers, two orders of chicken strips, two large pottles of hot chips and a pizza with pepperoni, onion, mushrooms and extra cheese.
The 52-year-old received a single-dose injection of the sedative pentobarbital.
The Missouri Department of Corrections told Fox News Digital that it had been a quick death with a few deep breaths as the drug was injected, followed by several quick, shallow breaths.
At one point he quickly raised his head from the pillow and blinked hard before his movements stopped.
In a letter asking Governor Mike Parson to spare Dorsey’s life, prison staffers had called Dorsey a “model inmate” who even cut the warden’s hair after he was allowed to work as a barber.
Despite this Parson said the execution would go forward.
In recent months, Dorsey was joined by unexpected allies in his fight to live: dozens of Missouri Corrections Department employees who urged Parson to grant clemency.
“I knew Brian Dorsey for many years, and I can say without hesitation that he was completely rehabilitated,” Tim Lancaster, a retired state Corrections Department officer, said in a statement released ahead of the execution.
He continued: “Brian cut my hair, and we would talk, and I know he felt deep shame and remorse about what he had done. He was a good person who made a mistake and was working to do better. I thought that was what we hoped for by sending people to prison.”
Dorsey, who had requested clemency, thanked those who tried to save his life.
“To my family, friends, and all of those that tried to prevent this, I love you!” he said in a handwritten note.
“I am grateful for you. I have peace in my heart in large part because of you and I thank you. To all those on ALL sides of this sentence, I carry no ill will or anger, only acceptance and understanding.”
