I Looked Into The Eyes Of A Serial Killer, And Then Watched Him Die
Have you ever sat looking into the eyes of a serial killer, watching for some sign of remorse for his crimes - wondering if he would take back what he’d done, if he could? Have you ever smelled the burning flesh of a condemned killer as 1,800 volts of electricity ripped through his body for thirty seconds straight? No? Well, I have.
I once sat a few feet in front of convicted serial killer, Timothy Spencer, better known as The Southside Strangler, and watched as the death squad secured the killer’s hands and feet. I watched his eyes as they scanned the room, taking in the faces of the witnesses. I wondered if the blonde woman beside me reminded him of either of his victims. Perhaps, the lady in the back row who sat glaring at the murderer was the mother of one of the women Spencer had so brutally raped and murdered.
Timothy Spencer began his rape and murder spree in 1984 when he raped and killed a woman named Carol Hamm in Arlington, Virginia. Spencer also killed Dr. Susan Hellams, Debby Davis, and Diane Cho, all of Richmond, Virginia. A month later, Spencer returned to Arlington to rape and murder Susan Tucker.
Timothy W. Spencer
The Southside Strangler
The room where Spencer sat was in the death house inside Virginia’s Greensville Correctional Center. At the time, the execution chamber was pretty much a bare room with the exception of Old Sparky, the state’s electric chair, an instrument of death that, ironically, was built by inmates.
Death chamber at Greensville Correctional Center
Old Sparky, Virginia’s electric chair, was built by inmates.
State executions in Virginia are carried out at Greensville Correctional Center.
Timothy Spencer was put to death on April 27, 1994 at 11:13 pm.
Spencer entered the death chamber surrounded by members of the death squad. He’d walked the eight short steps to the chamber from a death watch cell, on his own, without assistance from members of the squad.
He sat down in the oak chair and allowed the death squad to carry out their business of fastening straps, belts, and electrodes. Their last task, to place a metal, colander-like hat on Spencer’s head. The hat was lined with a brine-soaked sponge that serves as an excellent conductor of electricity.
I wondered if Spencer felt the presence of the former killers who’d died in the chair before him - Morris Mason, Michael Smith, Ricky Boggs, Alton Wayne, Albert Clozza, Derrick Peterson, Willie Jones, Wilbert Evans, Charles Stamper, and Roger Coleman, to name a few.
Morris Mason had raped his 71-year-old neighbor. Then he’d hit her in the head with an ax, nailed her to a chair, set her house on fire, and then left her to die.
Alton Wayne stabbed an elderly woman with a butcher knife, bit her repeatedly, and then dragged her nude body to a bathtub and doused it with bleach.
A prison chaplain once described Wilbert Evans’ execution as brutal. “Blood was pouring down onto his shirt and his body was making the sound of a pressure cooker ready to blow.” The preacher had also said, “I detest what goes on here.”
Yep, I wondered if Spencer felt any of those vibes coming from the chair. I wondered if he’d heard that his muscles would contract, causing his body to lunge forward. That the heat would literally make his blood boil. That the electrode contact points were going to burn his skin. Did he know that his joints were going to fuse, leaving him in a sitting position? Had anyone told him that later someone would have to use sandbags to straighten out his body? Had he wondered why they’d replaced the metal buttons buttons on his clothes with Velcro? Did they tell him that the buttons would have melted?
For the previous twenty-four hours, Spencer had seen the flurry of activity inside the death house. He’d heard the death squad practicing and testing the chair. He’d seen them rehearsing their take-down techniques in case he decided to resist when they escorted him to the chamber. He watched them swing their batons at a make-believe prisoner. He saw their glances and heard their mutterings.
Was he thinking about what he’d done. Had he made his peace? I wanted to ask him if he was sorry for what he’d done. I wanted to know why he’d killed those women. What drove him to take a human life?
Spencer was asked if there any final words he’d like to say - a time when many condemned murderers ask for forgiveness. He started to say something, but stopped, offering no apology, no remorse. He took his thoughts to his grave.
He made eye contact with me. It was a chilling experience to look into the eyes of a serial killer just mere seconds before he himself was killed. While he looked at me he turned both thumbs upwards, still displaying his arrogance. A death squad member placed a leather mask over his face, and seconds later the lethal dose of electricity was introduced. His body swelled and lurched forward. Then, the electricity was turned off and his body slumped into the chair. After a brief pause, the executioner sent a second burst of electricity to the killer’s body. Again, his body swelled, but this time smoke began to rise from his head and leg; a sound similar to bacon frying could be heard over the hum of the electricity. Fluids rushed from behind the leather mask. And the odor of burning flesh filled the room.
The second round of electricity shut off and Spencer’s body relaxed. An eerie calm filled the chamber. The woman beside me was crying softly. I realized that I’d been holding my breath and exhaled, slowly. No one moved for five long minutes (I later learned that this wait-time was to allow the body to cool down. The hot flesh would have burned anyone who touched it). Finally, the prison doctor approached the killer’s body, placed a stethoscope against his chest, and listened for a heartbeat. A few seconds passed before the doctor looked up and said, “Warden, this man has expired.”
That was it. One of the worse serial killers in history was dead, finally.
Strange, but true facts about Spencer’s case:
- Spencer raped and killed all five of his victims while living at a Richmond, Virginia halfway house after his release from a three-year prison sentence for burglary. He committed the murders on the weekends during times when he had signed out of the facility.
- Spencer was the first person in the U.S. executed for a conviction based on DNA evidence.
- David Vasquez, a mentally handicapped man, falsely confessed to murdering one of the victims in the Spencer case after intense interrogation by police detectives. He was later convicted of the crime. He served five years in prison before DNA proved his innocence. It was learned that Vasquez didn’t understand the questions he’d been asked and was just telling the officers what he thought they wanted to hear.
- Spencer strangled each of the victim’ to death using neck ligatures. He’d fashioned the ligatures in such a way that the more the victims struggled, the more they choked.
- Patricia Cornwell’s first book, Post Mortem, was based on the Spencer murders.
Posted in Police Procedure
March 26th, 2008 8:05 am
Very compelling post! He got exactly what he deserved.
Do you know how many states still use the chair, or have most switched to lethal injection? In my opinion, lethal injection makes it too easy on these murderers.
March 26th, 2008 8:41 am
While I have no problem with capital punishment, and sometimes wish we had it up here in Canada, I couldn’t do what you did in a hundred years. You’re a lot stronger than I am.
March 26th, 2008 11:14 am
Lee. What did you feel afterwqrd, or did you speak with any of the victim’s families to ask them the same question?
Did you or they feel a sense of “closure” people always speak of?
March 26th, 2008 12:10 pm
I saw Michael Lenz die in the Virginia death chamber from Lethal Injection (LI). I do not see how anyone can call that cruel and unusual. All you do is go to sleep. However, I am sure the walk from the door to the table is the both the longest and the shortest anyone has ever taken.
Virginia allows either the chair or LI. It is rider’s choice. If they do not choose it defaults to LI.
I think I want to get back on the witness list, but only one more time and only for the chair. I want to watch because it is hard, in my mind, to be for something you know nothing about.
March 26th, 2008 12:52 pm
Joyce- I’ll have to look at the updated information about which states still have the electric chair as an option. When my book was released last fall, the count was ten.
Dave- No, I didn’t speak to anyone. In fact, not one single person spoke after it was all over.
March 26th, 2008 12:56 pm
pourshot - How was it for you afterward? Was there any conversation among the witnesses? I’m sure you took the same ride that I did back to the undisclosed meeting place for witnesses. Did anyone have anything to say during the ride?
March 26th, 2008 2:49 pm
I wish more people could read what you’ve just described. (Is it in the book?) I’ve heard it said the death penalty is meant to be a deterrent but as we can all see, criminals are rarely deterred by the thought of punishment such as this. Or if they are, can you imagine how much worse our society would be?
I’m not sure I’m pro-death penalty but I have a real problem with people saying LI is “inhumane”. What the murderers did was inhumane in and of itself. Paybacks are a b*tch. Deal with it.
March 26th, 2008 3:10 pm
Carla - Yes, the story is in my book, in much more detail.
I really don’t think the death penalty is a deterrent at all. People who kill simply don’t stop what they’re doing to consider what may or may not happen to them ten years down the road. In fact, even the murderers who are already incarcerated see life in prison as a much harsher penalty than dying.
March 26th, 2008 3:21 pm
DonnelB is apparantly temporarily locked out, but wanted to share this post:
DonnelB says: Compelling post as your readers have said, but the Death Penalty is hardly black and white. I wonder if you would agree, Lee? Did this execution change your opinion of the death penalty, if you had one? In your previous blog you said that the 22 year old you killed in a bank robbery shoot out haunted you for a long time.
I wonder what effect this death row inmate had on you? These killers not only wreak havoc on their victims and their families, but society becomes their victim. The controversy they create on both sides will be debated forever. The convict who finds Jesus, can we really know that’s the case?
The convict who appears so hardened because he won’t say a word and looks so angry? It’s easy to hate these people because they make it so easy. My point is we can never know, truly, what is in anyone’s mind. Courageous post and very informative. ~ Donnell
March 26th, 2008 3:26 pm
Witnessing this execution had no effect on me. I never lost a moments sleep over a man who couldn’t, during his last seconds on earth, say I’m sorry to the families of those poor women. But I have to tell you that a death in the electric chair is very gruesome. It’s not humane. No, no, no, not at all.
March 27th, 2008 7:03 pm
Bravo, Lee. Quite a memorable post. I feel like I was right there with you.
BTW, is it true that executions actually cost the government more money than life in prison?
Kelli
March 27th, 2008 7:31 pm
Hi Kelli. The costs from the beginning of a death peanlty case through execution can exceed two-million dollars. The cost of incarcerating the same inmate for life is between two- and three-hundred thousand dollars.
March 27th, 2008 8:08 pm
Lee,
I remember reading this story in your book. It still disturbs me a bit. I don’t know how I would look into the eyes of a killer.
~Bobby
March 27th, 2008 8:58 pm
Bobby - I can assure you that it was easier for us to look into Spencer’s eyes than it was for his victims. It was pretty chilling to think that’s the last thing they saw before they died.
March 31st, 2008 7:58 am
Lee,
I can only imagine what that day was like for you and the other witnesses. I’ve always wondered how I would handle that situation myself and pray I never find out–especially after reading your post here about it. While I believe that the death penalty may not deter murderers from committing a crime like this one, it certainly will keep Spencer from committing another one. Some crimes deserve a death penalty and I am not so sure a humane death is real justice. This guy should have died the same way his victims died. In his last moments, struggling for air and unable to get it. Not THAT would be justice!
Like my gramma always said, “Hell won’t be hot enough for some people!” Guess Spencer is finding out all about that about now–at least I hope so!
Thanks for your blog! I can’t wait for more!
April 10th, 2009 7:02 pm
An coincidental irony of the Timmy Spencer case, one victim (Debbie Dudley Davis) worked in a bookstore in the Cloverleaf Mall and had sold a book to another victim (Susan Hellams) a few weeks before they were killed seperately.
Davis lived on the same block where the tragic Harvey family slayings occurred. Both Spencer and the main perpetrator of that crime, Ricky Gray, were/are unrepentant monsters. Execution is the only appropriate penalty for society’s sake.
May 10th, 2010 7:10 am
[...] - Timothy W. Spencer is the first person in the U.S. to be convicted and sentenced to death based on DNA evidence. [...]
June 5th, 2010 6:37 pm
Alot of people say what the beforementioned person said about a life in prison is punishment enough. I have worked in both a major va jail and prison. Going to jail would scare people like me and you who lead a normal lifestyle. However, I can assure you there some who jail or prison is just a way of life. To those people prison is no different than going on a vacation. In the jail I worked at for ten years. You could watch the tiers of men . To many of these persons it was not much more than a social gathering of fellow aquantences playing cards and watching T.V. You could see through their actions that sitting on a tier doing those things were no different than sitting in their own living room. The people like you and me would be the ones cowering in a corner near the front keeping constant contact with staff in the hopes of protection. I guess my point is that don’t base your idea of prison being such a harsh punishment compared to capitol punishment on what your perceptions would be if jailed . To many out there. Going to jail or prison is just something you do.
June 5th, 2010 7:26 pm
Rodney. Thanks for the input. It’s always great to hear from experts.
I still have to say - it may be a way of life, and I agree that are many inmates who enjoy the lifestyle, but the majority of prisoners long for family and freedom and would rather be out than in.
By the way, which Va. prison and jail?
June 28th, 2010 8:31 pm
Killing is wrong no matter who does it… Point blank. NO ONE should have the right to take another life, whether it be a murderer or our justice system… especially a justice system that has MANY cracks and cannot be trusted.