Before Christopher Leroy Collings' execution Tuesday evening, the Missouri death row inmate convicted in the "wantonly vile" killing of a 9-year-old girl ate a modest last meal.
Collings, 49, opted for a bacon cheeseburger, breaded mushrooms, tater tots and a chef salad, prison officials said, according to The Independent.
He was later on led to the death chamber at the state's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri, where he died via lethal injection at 6:10 p.m.
In a written final statement, Collings apologized: "Right or wrong I accept this situation for what it is. To anyone that I have hurt in this life I am sorry. I hope that you are able to get closure and move on, regardless of which side of the situation that you are on. You are in my prayers and I hope to see you in heaven one day."
His attorneys condemned the execution of the "gentle giant" as an "act of vengeance."
"We will remember Chris with the fondest of memories for the person he truly was and not the way he was characterized by those that did not know him," his legal team wrote, according to The Kansas City Star. "Tonight, we say goodbye to our friend, but his generosity, kindness, and gentle spirit will live on in our lives. Until we meet again."
The U.S. Supreme Court and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson denied Collings' request for clemency, paving the way for his execution to carry on as planned.
The inmate's attorneys called Parson's refusal to spare his life "incredibly disappointing" but "entirely predictable," according to the paper.
"In each case of redemption, the Governor has ignored the evidence and sought vengeance," they said, the outlet reported. "Gov. Parson purports to believe in redemption, but his grants of mercy seem to apply only to the privileged and politically connected."
In 2012, Collings was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of his friend's stepdaughter, Rowan Ford, while the girl's mother was at work.
Collings, Rowan's stepdad, David Spears, and another friend, left the victim home alone and spent the night drinking at the would-be killer's trailer the night of Nov. 2, 2007, court records reviewed by the Lawyer Herald say.
At the end of the night, the third friend drove Spears home. At the same time, Collings took an alternate route and hurried to Spears' residence, where he abducted Rowan and brought her back to his trailer to rape her.
Afterwards, he planned to take her back home.
"He led her outside facing away from him so she couldn't see his face," court records read. "He made sure to keep the lights off and didn't speak so she wouldn't recognize his voice."
"On the way back to the truck, however, moonlight allowed Ford to see Collings' face. Knowing she had recognized him, he 'freaked out.' Collings saw a coil of cord in the bed of his truck, looped it around Ford's neck, and started pulling. She fell to the ground after struggling for a bit, and he held the cord tight until she stopped moving," the records stated.
Rowan's body was found in a cave a week later – naked from the waist down. An autopsy revealed she was sexually assaulted before she was strangled to death.
After her body was recovered, Collings confessed to Rowan's killing, and during the trial, the jury agreed her "murder in the first degree was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture, or depravity of mind," recommending the death penalty, according to court records.
