Terrifying & True | Ronald Gene Simmons: The Christmas Familicide & Arkansas Mass Murder

WEBVTT

1
00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:10.039
The holiday season is a time of
togetherness, of celebration, of joy,

2
00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:14.679
of being with the ones you love, and being thankful for the things and

3
00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:19.600
people that you have. But one
man decided to use the holidays as a

4
00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:29.239
backdrop for his evil plan to execute
everyone in his family. What you were

5
00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:38.159
about to pit is buriity to you. Based on witness accounts, testimonies,

6
00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:55.000
and public record, this is terrifying
and true. True. In the history

7
00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:02.079
of humankind, there are many tragic
stories of patriarchs of the family killing those

8
00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:07.920
closest to them for a number of
reasons, often economic stressors or mental illness.

9
00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:15.040
But this case is truly another level
of heinous. This is the story

10
00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:19.560
of Ronald Gene Simmons, a name
I honestly wish we could all forget.

11
00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:26.359
A man who not only was a
heinous human being who committed many atrocities against

12
00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:32.159
those who he loved and loved him, but when he decided to commit the

13
00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:38.239
ultimate crime against them, he did
so at Christmas time. We'll be telling

14
00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:51.439
that story tonight on Terrifying and True
after these quick words from our sponsors.

15
00:01:55.319 --> 00:02:00.519
The Christmas season is a time most
think of as one for hope, the

16
00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:06.000
pinnacle of the human spirit and a
time one spends with their family regardless of

17
00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:10.280
any headaches that may come about.
But the holiday season is also known to

18
00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:16.000
produce darker memories than the ones found
on a hallmark Christmas card. While it

19
00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:22.199
is usually robbery, personal larceny,
and road related crimes that fill the news

20
00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:29.479
come the holidays, murder has also
filled the headlines. In nineteen eighty seven,

21
00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:34.840
one such instance of Mary murder entered
the headlines. Only this one had

22
00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:39.719
a build up to it that included
a constantly moving childhood, a decorated military

23
00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:46.560
career, fleeing from the authorities when
investigated for sexually abusing their own child,

24
00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:51.439
and a string of low paying jobs
that appeared to slowly chip away at their

25
00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:57.639
sanity. Eventually, that sanity broke
and the individuals started a day's long spree

26
00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:02.560
of murder and mayhem. This is
the story of a Christmas gone chaotic and

27
00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:08.199
how a family was slaughtered by its
patriarch, how perhaps a demented mind was

28
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:15.599
slowly distorted, even more so by
circumstance of how the red that makes up

29
00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:23.439
the color scheme of the holidays can
drip with blood. This is the story

30
00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:30.000
of Robert Gene Simmons. During the
lead up to the Christmas season of nineteen

31
00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:35.400
eighty seven, forty seven year old
Ronald Gene Simmons decided that he would kill

32
00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.360
all the members of his family.
After years of low paying jobs, living

33
00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:45.800
in less than desirable conditions, and
dealing with the repercussions of allegations of fathering

34
00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:50.919
a child with his own seventeen year
old daughter, he was simply pushed into

35
00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:54.960
the direction of killing all of those
around him. Thus, on the morning

36
00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:01.360
of December twenty second, he began
a new job as an executioner. First

37
00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:05.759
was his wife, Rebecca and his
eldest son Jean. He killed them by

38
00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:11.120
bludgeoning them with a crowbar and then
shooting them with a twenty two caliber pistol.

39
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.040
Next was his three year old granddaughter, Barbara, who he killed by

40
00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:21.920
strangulation. To dispose of the bodies, Simmons dumped the three victims into cesspits

41
00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:28.399
previously made by his children due to
the lack of indoor plumbing in their converted

42
00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:33.120
mobile home. With the three victims
dealt with, Simmons waited for the remaining

43
00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:39.399
children to return home from school for
their Christmas break. Once they arrived,

44
00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:43.199
he told them he had a surprise
for them, but wanted to deliver them

45
00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:47.240
to the children one at a time. The first in this batch of victims

46
00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:51.920
was seventeen year old Loretta, another
one of his daughters. He killed her

47
00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:58.120
by strangling her and held her head
down in a rain filled barrel. After

48
00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:01.800
that, one by one, Simmons
came killed the remaining three children, Eddie,

49
00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.920
Mary Anne, and Becky in the
same fashion. When all four of

50
00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:11.879
the children were dead, Simmons dumped
their bodies into the cesspit where the previous

51
00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:15.920
victims were. Four days later,
on December twenty sixth, Simmons waited for

52
00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:21.199
the remaining family members he'd invited over
for the holidays to come to start off

53
00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:27.040
his newest spree of executions. Simmons
first killed his son Billy and his wife

54
00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:31.399
Nada, both shot dead. Simmons
then moved on to their twenty month old

55
00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:36.480
son Trey, by strangling and drowning
him. Next was his eldest daughter,

56
00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:42.759
Sheila, with whom he'd had a
sexually abusive relationship, and her husband Dennis

57
00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:47.759
McNulty, by shooting them both.
Simmons next murdered his child, conceived by

58
00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:53.839
his abuse of Sheila, seven year
old Sylvia by strangling her. Finally,

59
00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:59.160
Simmons finished his familicide by killing his
twenty one month old grandson, Michael.

60
00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:03.720
Now that all of his family was
slain, Simmons placed his victim's bodies in

61
00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:09.360
the lounge of their home in neat
rows. He covered their bodies with coats,

62
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:14.800
except for that of Sheila, who
was covered by Rebecca simmons best tablecloth.

63
00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:18.399
The bodies of Tray and Michael were
wrapped in plastic sheeting and left in

64
00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:24.000
abandoned cars at the end of the
lane. After the murders, Simmons drove

65
00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:28.000
to a seer's store in Russellville,
where he retrieved Christmas lights that he had

66
00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.600
previously ordered for his family. That
night, he went for a drink at

67
00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.160
a local bar before returning to the
home, where he spent the rest of

68
00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:42.560
the evening and the following day drinking
beer and watching television. However, even

69
00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.399
with his entire family now dead,
the darkness in Simmons was not at peace.

70
00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:54.319
So then came the next phase of
his violent plan. On December twenty

71
00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:58.160
eighth, Simmons drove out to a
wal mart in Russellville, where he bought

72
00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:01.759
another gun to use for his net
attack. From there, he traveled to

73
00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:06.720
a law firm where he had previously
met the twenty four year old secretary Kathy

74
00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:13.879
Cribbins Kendrick. Simmons had an infatuation
with Kendrick and had asked her out previously,

75
00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:17.639
with her rejecting him. Once at
the law office, Simmons walked in,

76
00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:28.079
found Kendrick, and shot her dead. Next on the tour of murder

77
00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:31.600
was the office of an oil company. It was there that Simmons was intending

78
00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:38.120
to find and kill Russell Taylor,
the owner of the company. Taylor was

79
00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:42.519
also the owner of the Sinclair Mini
Mart, where Simmons had resigned just before

80
00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:46.839
his killing spree. He was able
to find and shoot Taylor, but was

81
00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:51.360
unsuccessful in killing him. Simmons then
turned his attention to thirty three year old

82
00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:57.879
James David, whom he successfully shot
and killed. Chaffin would be the only

83
00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.240
victim that Simmons did not know.
Before leaving the building, Simmons fired at

84
00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:09.720
another stranger, but luckily for that
stranger, the bullet had missed. After

85
00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:13.160
completing his work at the oil company, Simmons drove out to the Sinclair Mini

86
00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.040
Mart, where he shot and wounded
two more people. His final target was

87
00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:24.000
the office of the Woodline Motor Freight
Company, where he shot his former supervisor

88
00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:28.199
twice, wounding her. When done
attacking his former supervisor, Simmons aimed at

89
00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:33.320
an employee and told them to call
the police, holding that employee at gunpoint

90
00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:39.200
until the cops arrived. Once they
did, Simmons handed over his firearm and

91
00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:48.320
surrendered without any resistance. His rampage
lasted forty minutes. After he was arrested,

92
00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.519
Simmons underwent typical psychiatric testing to determine
whether or not he was fit to

93
00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:58.600
stand trial. He was deemed fit
and went on trial on May twelfth,

94
00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:03.559
nineteen eighty eight, for the murders
of Kathleen Kendrick and James David Chaffin.

95
00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:09.919
Simmons was found guilty and sentenced to
death. While under oath, Simmons made

96
00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.639
a statement supporting the court's decision to
execute him, saying, quote, I,

97
00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:18.240
Ronald Gen. Simmons, Senor want
it to be known that it is

98
00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:24.039
my wish and my desire that absolutely
no action by anybody be taken to appeal

99
00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:28.519
or in any way change this sentence. It is further respectfully requested that this

100
00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:35.399
sentence be carried out expeditiously. Next, Simmons went on trial for the murder

101
00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:39.279
of his fourteen family members. On
February tenth, nineteen eighty nine, he

102
00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:45.480
was once more found guilty and again
sentenced to death. During the trial,

103
00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:50.279
Simmons had to be removed from the
courtroom for punching the prosecutor, John Bynum

104
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:56.080
and trying to grab a deputy's handgun
after Bynum had introduced a letter between Simmons

105
00:09:56.120 --> 00:09:58.960
and his daughter, Sheila, in
which Simmons expressed anger that Sheila had rever

106
00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.200
that he was the father of her
child and that he would see her in

107
00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:09.000
hell. As for his motive,
a family friend told investigators that simmons wife,

108
00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.679
Rebecca, had been saving up money
to divorce him when the killings happened.

109
00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:20.639
Once again, Simmons did not appeal
his sentence and stated to those who

110
00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:24.759
opposed the death penalty in my particular
case, anything short of death would be

111
00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:31.039
cruel and unusual punishment. Because of
his acceptance and lack of desire to contest

112
00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:37.039
his death sentences, the trial court
held a hearing concerning his competency in regards

113
00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:41.559
to his opinion to waive all further
proceedings By the end of the hearing,

114
00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:48.480
the court concluded that Simmons's decision was
knowing and intelligent. However, it was

115
00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:52.960
his acceptance that raised some issues with
Simmons and his fellow death row inmates.

116
00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.000
He had to be separated from other
prisoners as his life was threatened constantly.

117
00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.960
This was because he refused to appeal
his death sentence. The other prisoners believed

118
00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:09.279
Simmons was damaging their chances of beating
their own death sentences. Simmons even became

119
00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:15.639
the subject of the United States Supreme
Court case Whitmer versus Arkansas, when another

120
00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:20.320
death row inmate, Jonas Whitmore,
attempted unsuccessfully to force an appeal of simmons

121
00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:26.919
case. On May thirty first,
nineteen ninety, then Arkansas Governor and later

122
00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:33.480
President Bill Clinton signed the execution warrant
for Simmons. He selected lethal injection as

123
00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:37.639
his means of execution and died on
June twenty fifth in the Cummins unit.

124
00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:43.039
Because none of his remaining relatives would
claim his body, Simmons was buried in

125
00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:50.600
a potter's field in Lincoln County,
Arkansas, and so ends the Holiday horror

126
00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:54.080
tale of Ronald Gene Simmons. The
man who became the state of Arkansas's most

127
00:11:54.080 --> 00:12:00.559
prolific mass murderer, and whose acceptance
of and his refusal to appeal his sentence

128
00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:05.840
resulted in a Supreme Court case.
While a motive was partially established, nobody

129
00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:11.279
may ever know what fully triggered Simmons
to go on the rampage that he did.

130
00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:15.879
Was it vengeance? Was it to
try to cover up a dark,

131
00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:22.399
dirty family secret. Why was he
so accepting of his sentence. The truth

132
00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:26.279
might never be fully revealed, but
perhaps that is for the best in matters

133
00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:31.840
such as this. All we know
for sure, though, is that Ronald

134
00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:37.679
Gene Simmons committed a week long holiday
rampage that still has people talking to this

135
00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:43.879
day, almost as if it was
another Christmas story to tell come the season.

136
00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:52.080
Hey, my spookies, I gotta
say something dead serious. This story

137
00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:56.919
is truly devastating. It's about a
man who harmed his family for a long

138
00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:03.480
time and then one day decided to
just kill them and at the holidays.

139
00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:13.440
This is the kind of brutal reality
that makes true crime so fascinating and also

140
00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:18.000
so heartbreaking at the same time.
I wanted to tell this story because obviously

141
00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:24.159
it's seasonal, and it's morbid and
it's twisted. But I also have to

142
00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:28.720
admit that doing Terrifying and True can
be kind of hard on my spirit sometimes

143
00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:35.039
reading these true stories of very very
heinous crime. So that being said,

144
00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:39.039
for the rest of the holiday season, I'm taking a break from Terrifying and

145
00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:45.360
True. I want to stick to
the mayhem and carnage that's of the fictional

146
00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:48.679
variety, and we have plenty of
it, lots of bonus shows to come

147
00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:54.480
this holiday season. As you've probably
already noticed, we've been publishing pretty much

148
00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:58.759
every day since the start of December. So next Monday, I hope you'll

149
00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:03.759
enjoy tuning in for a little something
extra Under the Tree, a holiday themed

150
00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:09.679
horror story of the fictional variety.
I figured you'd understand. Merry Christmas.

151
00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.320
Terrifying and True is narrated by Enrique
Kuto. This episode is written by Morgan

152
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:20.840
Moore. It's executive produced by Rob
Fields, produced by Daniel Wilder, with

153
00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:24.919
original theme music by Ray Maddis.
If you have a story you'd like us

154
00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:30.360
to cover on the program, send
us an email at Weekly Spooky at gmail

155
00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:33.240
dot com, and if you want
to support us in a very direct way,

156
00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:37.000
go to Weeklyspooky dot com and click
on Patreon. For as little as

157
00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.360
one dollar a month, you can
support us and allow us to keep the

158
00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:43.720
Spooky rolling and rolling and rolling.
And I want to say a big thank

159
00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:48.200
you to our Patreon podcast booster folks
who pay us a little bit more to

160
00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.960
hear their names at the end of
the show. And they are John Kling,

161
00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:54.519
Johnny Nix, bobotopia dot Com,
Megan Hua, Julia Kirsh, Brent

162
00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:58.279
mccollus, Steve King, Karen we
met, Jack Kerr and Craig Cohen.

163
00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:03.120
Thank you all so much and we'll
see you next time right here on Weekly

164
00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:05.879
Spooky and Terrifying and True