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ROUGH DRAFT
Cathy Shaw
February 11, 2004
Rough Draft Ronald Gene Simmons
Word Count 711
Ronald Gene Simmons
Russellville Ark., Dec 31- the man suspected of one of Americas worst mass murders probably began slaughtering his sleeping family on Christmas Eve.
In 1987Ronald Simmons made a choice to not only massacre his whole family, but also commit the most it heinous acts that a human could possibly fathom. Not too many people actually know of Ronald Gene Simmons, was a well-known person in his town, Cloudcroft, New Mexico. He was someone most people feared. In 1981 Simmons fled town when he was accused of impregnating his daughter. Charges were filed, but eventually dropped if the outcome of that case had been different, one of the most gruesome mass murders in America might have been avoided, according to law enforcement officers, a former district attorney and neighbor of Simmons, Soon after the Simons family disappeared into hiding.
They surfaced in Russellville, AR On December 22, 1987Simmons-47 a former Air Force officer who went through a string of low paying jobs during the four years he lived in the area. Mr. Simmons was also a member of a Gospel Outreach in Carroll Hollow. He worked at Home Crest before becoming disabled.
Neighbors described him to e a recluse who sometimes answered friendly inquiry with a glare. His wife was not allowed to leave the house without him and she was also not allowed to drive. Children were not allowed to ride the bus he drove them. When the children returned home from school they were put to work doing hard labor, literally.
The events of the final day according to officers, Simmons went to a local Wal-Mart purchasing a 22-caliber handgun. He then returned to his home where he beat and shot his son and wife. He strangled his three-year old daughter; he then dumped their bodies in a cesspit in the backyard. When the other children arrived home he told them he had a present for them, then he beat, strangled, and drown them in a rain barrel, also the three remaining children received the same gift.
December 26, Simmons eldest son and his wife with their son arrived for a holiday family reunion; they were found with the rest of the bodies. Simmons then a few days later drove into a town and shot four more people with only two surviving. At the end of the shooting, he allegedly offered his weapons to a former coworker and asked her to call the cops Russellville police took possessions of guns- an H and R .22 with a 3-inch barrel, commonly called a Saturday night special; and a Ruger .22 with a 91/2-inch barrel. From that time until he was transported to the psychiatric hospital in Little Rock, he didnt speak a word to authorities. The only emotion he showed, according top Sheriff James Bolin, was when Bolin mentioned his slain family. Then Simmons bottom lip began to quiver.
Simmons was eventually arrested; he pleaded for the death sentence at the first trial (for the final two murders) and got it. At his second trial (for his Family) he attacked the prosecutor, punching him in the face while attempting to grab the officers gun, if someones life were in the hands of a deliberating jury this is not the behavior that would expect.
Ronald Gene Simmons was convicted of 16 murders in a Christmas rampage, was put to death two years after he pleaded in court for a swift execution to Let the torture and suffering in me end. He was executed by lethal injection on June 25, 1990 At 9:02 p.m. the first solution began, 17 minutes Simons was pronounced dead.
Survivors include, Thomas Gene Simmons and Christopher James Simmons, who lives with their mother, Christine Simmons, in Clinton; his mother, Blanche G. Simmons of Clinton; two sisters and brothers-in-law, Barbara Jane and Clyde Carr of Livingston and Sue and Robert Tremain of Noblesville Ind; and nine brothers Charles Wayne Simmons, Harry Lee Simmons, Lawrence Edward Simmons, and his wife, Kim of Oak Ridge, Donald Simmons Jr. of Oklahoma City Okla., Hollis Marcus Simmons and his wife, Alicia of Alexandria, Ind., Floyd Allen Simmons of Anderson, Ind., and Jack Lyne Simmons of Knoxville.
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