Death row inmate who wrote disturbing letters to woman he loved had huge final meal before dying
Death row meals have always interested the public, because sometimes inmates ask for the strangest of things before they die.
From a single olive to a lump of dirt, there's been a whole host of requests over the years.
Freddie Eugene Owens decided to go big with his last meal before he was executed yesterday (20 September).
The death row inmate died by lethal injection at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, US.
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Owens had originally been arrested for the 1997 murder of convenience store clerk Irene Grainger Graves.
The single mother-of-three was shot one night, leading to Owens and his co-defendant being sent down for their part in her murder.
But before the 46-year-old was put to death, it was revealed that he had written several unsettling letters to a woman he was in love with.
It's thought to be his girlfriend at the time of his arrest.
USA Today obtained the letters which saw Owens telling a woman named 'Aisha' that 'not a day goes by' without him thinking of her.
In one letter, Owens demanded Aisha answers his questions and told her to 'quit bull s****ing with his emotions'.
"I hate to believe this but I heard you signed statements against me," he wrote.
"I rather you f**k my brother, leave me or kill me. When I get out, and that's a fact, I have no words for those who betrayed me, just anger."
A letter he sent in 1998 also read: "Aisha, you know the things I’ve done, you know what I’m capable of doing, so why do you tend to play these games with me?"
Being the first person to be executed in the state in 13 years, Owens certainly made his final meal memorable.
According to a South Carolina Department of Corrections spokesperson, it included a well-done ribeye steak, two cheeseburgers, six chicken wings, French fries, a piece of apple pie and two strawberry sodas.
On Wednesday (18 September) Owens' co-defendant in the crime signed a sworn statement which claimed that he wasn’t even in the area when she was murdered.
Steven Golden told the South Carolina Supreme Court that he was 'scared that he would get the death penalty if he didn't make a statement' which stated that Owens was there with him on 1 November 1997.
However, the court wasn’t convinced by this new information and the 46-year-old was still put to death.
Before the lethal injection, Owens said 'bye' to his attorney.
Gerald 'Bo' King, the inmate's attorney, said the execution was a 'tragedy', and told USA Today: "Mr. Owens’s childhood was marked by suffering on a scale that is hard to comprehend.
"He spent his adulthood in prison for a crime that he did not commit. The legal errors, hidden deals, and false evidence that made tonight possible should shame us all."
Topics: Crime, True Crime, Food And Drink, US News
Britt Jones