His hands were restrained by heavy leather straps.
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When Bolin was asked if he had any final words, he replied, “No sir”.
Thursday evening in a remote section of rural North Florida where 385 men and five women on the death row await their turn, Reeves watched in silence as the life of Oscar Ray Bolin slipped away with clinical precision. Bolin’s half-brother Phillip testified that on the night of Matthews’ disappearance, Bolin showed up with the body wrapped in a sheet, telling him the woman had been hurt during an off-the-rails drug deal.
Bolin abducted Teri Lynn Matthews, a 26-year-old bank clerk, from a Pasco post office.
Bolin was also sentenced to death by for the killing of 17-year-old Stephanie Collins. Her beaten and stabbed body was found in a ditch a month later. In this Thursday, April 19, 2012, file photo, Oscar Ray Bolin Jr., looks around the courtroom in Tampa, Fla., after being found guilty in the killing of Natalie Blanche Holley. Bolin had been in prison for Matthews’ murder and the slaying of two other Florida women.
Authorities later discovered it was the new husband of Bolin’s ex-wife who called in the tip. Bolin also pointed to OH inmate Steven Kasler, who allegedly confessed to Matthews’ murder. The results excluded the inmate, but did not exclude Bolin. Kathleen Reeves, Matthews’ mother and Collins’ family appeared during the execution. She thanked law enforcement for their efforts.
‘He dies for all of our girls, ‘ she added.
Convicted serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin is the first to be executed in the United States this year. “I can’t have her back, but I’ll have sweet memories”. His visitors included his wife, Rosalie, and Dale Recinella who is Bolin’s spiritual adviser. Rosalie Bolin says her husband is innocent in Matthews’ killing, and she has become one of the state’s most outspoken death penalty opponents.
His last meal was served at 10 a.m.
And that’s where he sat as 6 p.m. came and went.
A number of appeals had been filed on Bolin’s behalf in recent days.
Afterward, tears rolled down the cheeks of Bolin’s lawyer, Bjorn Brunvand, as he talked to members of the media.
He gathered himself before speaking with the press.
One day before his execution, he insisted he didn’t murder them. “He was in a place where he could not harm anyone and he was perfectly healthy”. They huddled in blankets and held signs that questioned the logic of executions.
Bolin exemplified why the death penalty is necessary.
“I didn’t know ’em, never seen ’em, never met ’em”, he said. He claimed that evidence used to find him guilty was planted and tampered with.
He said: “My conscience is clear”. ‘[The families] are not getting any peace by executing me tomorrow’. It’s my release. My punishment’s over.
“[The state] killed me 28 years ago when they locked me up”, he said.
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“I just miss her so much”, Witmer told reporters.
