[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
The last words of Christopher Collings have been revealed. And they are not likely to give anyone comfort.
Collings, 49, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday in a prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri. He had been convicted nearly two decades ago for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl.
Rowan Ford knew the then 32-year-old Collings as “Uncle Chris.” He was a good friend of her stepfather David Spears and was living with the family at the time. He confessed to police that after a night of drinking he took the little girl from her room to his camper to sexually assault her. He claimed he never meant to kill her but “freaked out” when she saw his face. Collings strangled the child to death, dumped her body in a sinkhole, and burned his clothes, a rope, and the bloodstained mattress.
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Disgustingly, Spears helped with the murder of his own stepdaughter. He allegedly confessed to helping strangle her. He also lied about the crime after, telling investigators she was staying at a friend’s house before finally breaking and leading cops to her body. Shockingly, he only served 7 years.
Collings was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. That was in 2012. He was put to death on Tuesday but not before releasing a last statement, writing, per AP:
“Right or wrong I accept this situation for what it is. To anyone that I have hurt in this life I am sorry. I hope that you are able to get closure and move on. Regardless which side of this situation that you are on. You are in my prayers and I hope to see you in heaven one day.”
Sorry, “regardless of which side of this situation that you are on”?? What other side is there? Who is weighing in that the rapist and murderer of a child is misunderstood actually? What does that even mean?
Such unsettling final words. Collings’ attorney said about the final words and execution in a statement:
“We share Chris’s desire that his death will provide a measure of closure for the victim’s family and that the people hurt by him will be able to carry on. What occurred today, though, was an act of vengeance, but it will not define Chris, nor will it be how we remember him.”
How is it he thinks the rapist and murderer of a child will be remembered?
[Image via Missouri Department of Corrections.]
