A DEATH row inmate used his last words to slam authorities for killing him on his birthday two decades after he brutally murdered and fantasized about eating his 10-year-old neighbor.
Kevin Underwood was executed on Thursday morning after sitting on death row for 18 years for torturing and killing Jamie Rose Bolin in 2006.
Before he died by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Underwood reportedly apologized to Bolin’s family for his heinous crimes.
He also said it was “needlessly cruel to my family” to execute him on his 45th birthday, six days before Christmas.
Underwood lured Bolin to his apartment before hitting her head with a cutting board and strangling her to death in his bathtub.
He later told cops he murdered his young neighbor as part of his cannibalistic and sexual fantasies and admitted to wanting to eat the girl, even though he didn’t go through with it.
He also said he tried to have sex with Bolin’s corpse, cops said at the time.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said justice was finally served for Bolin on Thursday.
“Justice for Jamie finally was served this morning with the execution of the depraved murderer who took her away from her family and loved ones,” Drummond said in a statement.
“I pray that Jamie’s family and all who continue to mourn her loss find a sense of peace after today’s action.”
‘I CAN’T BELIEVE I DID THOSE THINGS’
A week before he was executed, Underwood said he regretted the ghastly murder in his final clemency hearing with the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.
“I recognize that although I do not want to die…I deserve to for what I did,” the killer said over video on Friday, according to the Oklahoman.
“And if my death could…change what I did, I would gladly die.”
Underwood apologized to Bolin’s family and his own family at the hearing.
“I can’t believe I did those things,” he said.
“The person I was in the weeks leading up to that event is not who I am now.”
Mr. Underwood chose Jamie because he thought that she was small and defenseless and easy prey.”
Aspen Layman
Assistant Attorney General Aspen Layman rejected Underwood’s team’s claims that he shouldn’t be sentenced to death due to his mental health problems.
“Mr. Underwood chose Jamie because he thought that she was small and defenseless and easy prey,” Layman said.
“And while we, as an enlightened society, can give grace to those struggling with mental illness, we can still expect them to refrain from planning the murder, rape, torture, and cannibalism of 10-year-old little girls.”
HORRIFIC CRIME
Underwood, a 26-year-old grocery store worker at the time of the crimes, murdered Bolin on April 12, 2006.
The neighbor girl came over to play with Underwood’s pet rat after school before he viciously attacked her while she was watching Spongebob Squarepants, Underwood later told cops.
The FBI found the girl’s body nearly decapitated in a tub in Underwood’s bedroom closet two days later.
After cops saw Bolin’s shirt in the tub, Underwood told them, “Go ahead and arrest me.”
“She’s in there. I hit her and chopped her up,” he said.
“I’m going to burn in hell.”
Underwood was declared dead at 10:14 am local time on Thursday.
His last meal request was chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, pinto beans, a hot roll, and a cheeseburger and fries with ketchup, according to the Department of Corrections.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
