A father conveyed a mysterious final message as his concluding words before being executed on death row for the murder of a police officer. Lance Shockley, aged 48, consistently professed his innocence despite being convicted of the homicide of Sergeant Carl Dewayne Graham Junior. Shockley had appealed for mercy, including a plea shortly before the execution in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
Despite his pleas, the US Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, and Shockley was executed on Tuesday, with his head resting on a pillow in the death chamber at the prison. He exchanged words with loved ones in the witness room to his left, where a woman seemed to engage in a detailed conversation with him from his soundproof chamber.
In his enigmatic final written statement, Shockley wrote: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
Shockley was the second person executed in the US that day, following Samuel Lee Smithers, who was given a lethal injection in Florida for the murder of two women in 1996. Shockley marked the 14th execution in Missouri in 2025.
Although there were protests against both executions, Missouri Governor Michael Leo Kehoe stated, “Violence against those who risk their lives every day to protect our communities will never be tolerated. Missouri stands firmly with our men and women in uniform.”
After Shockley’s execution, Sgt. Graham Jr.’s family released a statement expressing the profound void left by his loss, stating that the grief touches every aspect of their daily lives. The statement acknowledged that no court proceeding or event could bring back Dewayne or mend the emptiness in their hearts but found some peace in knowing that this part of the process was concluded.
The 37-year-old relative died in March 2005 when Shockley fatally shot him with a rifle and shotgun after the police officer exited his patrol vehicle outside his home in Van Buren, Missouri. Prosecutors revealed in 2005 that Shockley had waited near the home for the police officer to disembark as Sgt. Graham Jr. was investigating him for involuntary manslaughter.
Shockley’s legal team’s attempts to halt his execution through state appeals courts for DNA testing of evidence found at the crime scene were unsuccessful. They argued that untested evidence could potentially exonerate Shockley, but their efforts were in vain.
Having two daughters, Shockley became the first person to be executed in Missouri in 2025, with no further executions scheduled for the year.