Cop killer dad’s cryptic final words to woman before execution | US | News
A father left a mysterious final message as his last words before being executed for the murder of a police officer.
Lance Shockley, 48, had consistently maintained his innocence despite being found guilty of the murder of Sergeant Carl Dewayne Graham Junior. Shockley had requested clemency, including an appeal, just hours before he was to be executed in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
But the U.S. Supreme Court rejected those objections, and on Tuesday Shockley’s head rested on a pillow in the prison’s death chamber. He interacted with loved ones in the witness room to his left.
A woman there seemed to be trying to engage him in an in-depth conversation from her soundproof room. In his astonishing final statement, Shockley said: “So now you too have sadness, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you.”
Shockley became the second person executed in the United States yesterday, after Samuel Lee Smithers, who killed two women in 1996, was lethal injection in Florida. He became the 14th person to be executed in the state in 2025.
There were protests against each execution, but Missouri governor Michael Leo Kehoe stated: “Violence against those who risk their lives every day to protect our communities will never be tolerated. Missouri stands with our men and women in uniform.”
Following Shockley’s execution, Sergeant Graham Jr.’s family released a statement expressing their grief, saying his loss “leaves a deep void within all of us, touching every aspect of our daily lives.”
“No amount of court proceedings or what happened here today can bring Dewayne back or heal the hole in our hearts. But after all these years, there is some peace in knowing that this part of the process is over,” the statement said.
The 37-year-old was tragically killed in March 2005 when Shockley ambushed the officer with a rifle and shotgun as he got out of his patrol car outside his home in Van Buren, Missouri, their relative said.
Prosecutors told the court in 2005 that Shockley waited near the home for the officer to exit his vehicle while Sergeant Graham Jr. was investigating him for manslaughter.
Shockley’s legal team was unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade state appeals courts to stay his execution to allow DNA testing of evidence found at the murder scene. His lawyers argued that much of this evidence was never tested and that Shockley could potentially be exonerated.
However, Shockley, a father of two daughters, became the first person executed this year in Missouri, where no other executions are planned for 2025.
