This morning, Wesley Ira Purkey, Convicted of rape and murder of a minor, claw-hammer killing of an 80 Year, was executed at USP Terre Haute 8:19 a.m

Wesley Ira Purkey Inmate Register Number 14679-045
Offense Information Offense Date: January 22, 1998. BOP.gov

Offense Description: Inmate Purkey violently raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl, and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl’s body in a septic pond.

He also was convicted in state court for using a claw hammer to bludgeon to death an 80-year- old woman who suffered from polio and walked with a cane. On November 5, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri found Purkey guilty of kidnapping a child resulting in the child’s death, and he was sentenced to death.

Sentencing and Incarceration Information
Sentenced on: January 23, 2004
Sentencing District: Western District of Missouri
Conviction: Kidnapping for the Purpose of Rape resulting in Death of the Victim

Committed: February 9, 2004 to the Federal Bureau of Prisons
Jail Credit: No Jail Credit
Time Served at date of execution: 15 years and 10 months
Inmate Description
Current Age: 67 Race: White Gender: Male

Statement by Department of Justice Spokesperson Kerri Kupec on the Execution of Wesley Ira Purkey DOJ

Department of Justice Spokesperson Kerri Kupec has issued the following statement:

“This morning, Wesley Ira Purkey was executed at USP Terre Haute in accordance with the death sentence imposed by a federal district court in 2004.  Purkey was pronounced dead at 8:19 a.m. EDT by the Vigo County Coroner.

Purkey violently raped and murdered 16-year-old Jennifer Long, and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl’s body in a septic pond.  He also was convicted in state court for using a claw hammer to bludgeon to death 80-year-old Mary Ruth Bales.  On November 5, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri found Purkey guilty of kidnapping a child resulting in death, and he was sentenced to death on January 23, 2004.

After many years of litigation following the death of his victims, in which he lived and was afforded every due process of law under our Constitution, Purkey has finally faced justice.  The death penalty has been upheld by the federal courts, supported on a bipartisan basis by Congress, and approved by Attorneys General under both Democratic and Republican administrations as the appropriate sentence for the most egregious federal crimes.  Today that just punishment has been carried out.”