A father left a mysterious final message as his last words before he was executed on death row for the murder of a police officer.
Lance Shockley, 48, had consistently claimed his innocence despite being convicted of the murder of Sergeant Carl Dewayne Graham Junior. Shockley had pleaded for mercy, including an appeal just hours before his execution in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
However, the US Supreme Court dismissed these appeals, and Shockley’s head was propped up on a pillow in the death chamber at the prison on Tuesday. He interacted with loved ones in the witness room to his left.
A woman there seemed to attempt to engage him in an in-depth conversation from his soundproof room. In a puzzling written final statement, Shockley said: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
Shockley was the second person to be executed in the US yesterday, following Samuel Lee Smithers, who murdered two women in 1996, was administered the lethal injection in Florida. He became the state’s 14th execution 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 firmly with our men and women in uniform.”
Following Shockley’s execution, Sgt Graham Jr’s family released a statement expressing their enduring grief, stating that his loss “has left a profound emptiness in all of us that touches every part of our daily lives.
“No court proceeding, nor what happened here today can ever bring Dewayne back, or heal the hole left in our hearts. But after all these years, there is some measure of peace in knowing that this part of the process is over,” the statement read.
Their 37-year-old relative was tragically killed in March 2005 when Shockley ambushed him with a rifle and shotgun as the police officer stepped out of his patrol car outside his home in Van Buren, Missouri.
Prosecutors informed the court in 2005 that Shockley had lain in wait near the home for the police officer to exit his vehicle, as Sgt Graham Jr was investigating him for involuntary manslaughter.
Shockley’s legal team failed in their attempts to persuade state appeals courts to halt his execution to allow for DNA testing of evidence discovered at the murder scene. His lawyers contended that much of that evidence had never been tested and could have potentially exonerated Shockley.
However, Shockley, a father of two daughters, became the first person to be executed this year in Missouri, where no further executions are scheduled for 2025.