For his final meal before his execution, death row inmate Derrick Dearman dined on a seafood platter from a local Alabama restaurant, according to reports.
Dearman, 36, who openly welcomed death after he was convicted of the sextuple slayings of his then-girlfriend's family, died by lethal injection Thursday evening at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
Five loved ones, including his father Gary Dearman, sister Abigail Thomas, brother-in-law Ronzie Thomas, and friends Veronica Jernigan and Abigail Brooks, witnessed his execution from the observation room, the outlet reported.
"To the victims' family: forgive me, this is not for me, it is for you," Dearman said aloud in his final statement. "I have taken so much."
"To my family, y'all already know... I love y'all," he continued.
Dearman's execution appeared to begin at 5:59 P.M., according to the paper. Two minutes later, he appeared to teeter in-and-out of consciousness, until he seemingly stopped breathing. By 6:08 P.M., the curtain to the death chamber shut.
"Derrick, oh Derrick! Derrick, don't go," Dearman's dad cried, according to the Advertiser.
Dearman previously said while he did not wish to die, it's what he "rightly deserves."
Armed with a gun and ax, and high on methamphetamine, he brutally murdered pregnant Chelsea Marie Reed, 22; Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Robert Lee Brown, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; and Joseph Adam Turner, 26; while they slept at a rural home outside Citronelle, Alabama, in 2016.
The five victims were related to his then-girlfriend, Laneta Lester, whose life he spared.
Dearman was convicted of six counts of murder, including one count for the slaying of Reed's unborn baby. He was sentenced to death in 2018.
He initially appealed the sentence to appease loved ones, he said, but quickly made peace with the judge's decision to end his life.
"It's not fair to the victims or their families to keep prolonging the justice they so rightly deserve," Dearman wrote in letters penned to four state officials, including Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, asking for his execution to move forward and informing them of his decision to drop his appeal, according to USA TODAY.
