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Background

Kenneth Dwayne Williams didn’t have the best parents; he alleges his mother was a drug addict, and his father was abusive.

Williams started smoking weed at six and joined a gang when he was nine.

Initial crimes and prosecution

By the time he was 17, he was serving a 5-year sentence for second-degree battery and first-degree escape. He got out on April 2nd, 1998, and quickly went back to a life of crime.

He abducted Dominique Hurd and her boyfriend, Peter Robertson, from a parking lot in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on December 13th, 1998, and forced them to give up their money, jewelry, and credit cards. He then forced them to drive to an ATM and withdraw more money.

He frequently told them he wouldn’t hurt them, but he lied, and once he got them to a secluded area, he forced them to get out of the car, and he started shooting. Hurd died, but Robertson survived.

Five days after the crime, Williams was arrested and charged with capital murder, attempted capital murder, and several other offenses.

He was convicted of all charges at trial and sentenced to life in prison.

Escape

On October 3rd, 1999, less than a month into his sentence, he went into the prison kitchen and hid inside a 500-gallon barrel of pig slop.

When the barrel was taken away on a truck, Williams was free again.

He broke into the home of 57-year-old Cecil Boren while Boren was working in the yard.

When Boren came inside, Williams shot him with a pistol he had found in the home.

Williams got his hands on more guns and some valuables before fleeing to Missouri in Boren’s truck.

The next day, law enforcement spotted him in Lebanon, Missouri, and pulled him over. Williams wasn’t ready to go back to prison, so he took off at speeds reaching 120 miles per hour.

The chase came to an end when Williams struck a delivery truck. The impact threw 24-year-old Michael Greenwood from the vehicle to his death.

Williams tried to get away on foot but was apprehended.

More legal proceedings

He was convicted of the murder of Boren on August 29th, 2000. The next day, he was sentenced to death.

In 2005, he confessed to killing Jerrell Jenkins, the same day he killed Hurd.

He pleaded guilty in that case and received another life sentence.

Execution

On April 27th, 2017, his death date arrived. At 3:11 pm, he was served his last meal: two pieces of fried chicken with a side of sweet rice, barbecue pinto beans, a slice of bread, a peanut butter cookie, and a cinnamon roll.

At 10:19 pm, the 38-year-old was marched to the execution chamber and strapped to the gurney.

Once the 31 witnesses were in place, he read the following statement:

“I humbly extend my sincerest of apologies to the families I senselessly wronged and deprived of their loved ones. The families of: Dominique Hurd, Jerrell Jenkins, Cecil Boren, Michael Greenwood. I was more than wrong. The crimes I perpetrated against you all was senseless, extremely hurtful and inexcusable. I humbly beg you your forgiveness, and pray you find the peace, healing, and closure, you all deserve. … I’m not the person I was, I’ve been transformed. Some things can’t be undone, I seek forgiveness.”

He was injected with the lethal drug midazolam at 10:52 pm. The other drugs were administered 5 minutes later. At 11:05 pm, he was pronounced dead.