A father conveyed a mysterious final message before his execution on death row for the murder of a police officer. Lance Shockley, aged 48, maintained his innocence despite being convicted of killing Sergeant Carl Dewayne Graham Junior. Shockley made pleas for clemency, even hours before his execution in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
Despite his appeals, the US Supreme Court denied Shockley’s requests, leading to his execution at the prison where his head was rested on a pillow in the death chamber. During the process, Shockley interacted with his loved ones in the witness room, with a woman attempting to engage him in conversation from his soundproof room.
In his final written statement, Shockley left a cryptic message saying, “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 executed in the US on that day, following Samuel Lee Smithers, who was given a lethal injection in Florida for murdering two women in 1996. This marked Missouri’s 14th execution in 2025.
Protests accompanied both executions, but Missouri Governor Michael Leo Kehoe emphasized a stance against violence towards law enforcement officers, stating, “Missouri stands firmly with our men and women in uniform.”
After Shockley’s execution, Sgt. Graham Jr’s family expressed the profound emptiness they felt from his loss, acknowledging that no court proceeding or event could bring back their loved one. Shockley shot the 37-year-old police officer in 2005 outside his home in Van Buren, Missouri, following an investigation for involuntary manslaughter.
Despite efforts by Shockley’s attorneys to halt the execution for DNA testing of evidence found at the crime scene, they were unsuccessful. Shockley, a father of two daughters, became the first person executed in Missouri in 2025, with no further executions scheduled for the year.