An Alabama man who murdered five people with an axe made a haunting revelation before his execution.
Derrick Dearman was responsible for the deaths of five people on August 20, 2016: Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Joseph Adam Turner, 26; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; and Chelsea Marie Reed, 22.
Chelsea, who was married to Justin, was pregnant when she was killed. Joseph, who was married to Shannon, shared the home with the Reeds. Brown, who was Shannon’s brother, was also staying there the night of the murders.
Dearman’s girlfriend survived the ordeal as well as Joseph and Shannon’s three-month-old son.
The 36-year-old man claimed that a drug-fueled rampage led to an out-of-body experience, causing him to commit the horrific crimes.
He pleaded guilty in 2018 and was subsequently sentenced to death by lethal injection, which took place on October 17, 2024.
Dearman welcomed death in the hours leading up to his execution.
According to CBS News, he said in an audio recording: “I am willingly giving all that I can possibly give to try and repay a small portion of my debt to society for all the terrible things I’ve done… From this point forward, I hope that the focus will not be on me, but rather on the healing of all the people that I have hurt.”
He dropped his appeals earlier this year, writing in an April letter to a judge that he’s “guilty,” and adding that “it’s not fair to the victims or their families to keep prolonging the justice that they so rightly deserve”.
During his final hours, Dearman requested a large seafood platter, which was delivered by a local restaurant. He was then strapped to the gurney at Alabama’s Holman prison and spoke to the families of his victims as well as his own loved ones.
“Forgive me. This is not for me. This is for you,” he said to the victims’ families before adding: “I’ve taken so much.” He also told his own family: “Y’all already know I love y’all.”
The day before the brutal murders, Joseph Turner, the brother of Dearman’s girlfriend, brought her to his home after the prisoner allegedly became abusive toward her.
It was reported that Dearman went to the residence to see his girlfriend at the time, but was told he could not stay the night.
He was turned away several times, and as he was driving away, he ran out of gas. He claimed that was when something “evil” had washed over him and kept “pressing on his mind,” per News.com.au.
Sometime after 3AM, he returned when all the victims were asleep and violently attacked them with an axe.
He revealed: “Something just took over. And I know now with the entirety of my being that it was evil.
“I walked up to the front yard; there was an axe there. I grabbed it,” he said. “I went to the front door. It had a little latch thing on the inside. I popped it, and then I went inside.”
Dearman, who reportedly used a large amount of methamphetamine and had not slept for a week before the slayings, turned himself in to the police and repeatedly expressed remorse for what he had done.
He added: “I knew that my life was over with. I knew that something terrible had happened and that I was responsible, whether it was 100% me or not.”
Alabama Attorney-General Steve Marshall stated that the execution was “in the interest of justice and finality for the families”.
“As a jury of his peers unanimously agreed, the gruesome facts of this case merited the ultimate punishment,” he said.
“Dearman viciously struck his victims with an axe, leaving them conscious and suffering for some time before he executed each at close range. Dearman showed no pity and no mercy,” he added.