The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said Wendell Grissom was executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester by lethal injection at 10:13 a.m. Thursday.
Lance West, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said 26 family members of the victim were present Thursday to witness Wendell Grissom’s execution.
Grissom, 56, was sentenced to death in 2008 by a Blaine County jury for the 2005 murder of Amber Matthews.
Court records show Grissom and his accomplice, Jessie Johns on Nov. 3, 2005, broke into the Blaine County residence of Dreu Kopf, who was inside with her two young daughters and Matthews. Grissom shot Kopf at least three times, laughing as he did so.
Kopf and her two daughters Rylee and Gracie were present and fielding questions after the execution. Here is what Kopf had to say about the execution and how the last 20 years have affected her since that night.
Kopf survived and was able to flee the home that night, hoping Grissom would follow her and spare Matthews and the children. Grissom ran after Matthews into the children’s bedroom with a baby cradled in her arms. Despite Matthews begging for her life, Grissom shot her once in the back of the head. He then stood over Matthews and fired a second shot.
Kopf escaped in a truck that was in the driveway and later flagged down truckers and told them that her friend and children were dead and she had been shot. One of the truck drivers was a retired police officer and got into the truck with Kopf and reported the shooting to the Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office and drove Kopf to the hospital in nearby Watonga.
Law enforcement officers responded to the residence and found the children alive. Matthews was declared dead while being flown by a medical helicopter to an Oklahoma City hospital.
Grissom and Johns fled the home on a stolen four-wheeler and were later arrested at a nearby café.
Johns is currently serving a life sentence without parole.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board in February denied clemency for Grissom.