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By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 02:04 p.m. EDT, Oct 14, 2008
LUCASVILLE: Twenty-five people gathered in a cramped, concrete-walled room to watch Richard Wade Cooey take his last breath.
Some 8,079 days after he raped and brutally killed two University of Akron sorority sisters, Cooey was executed this morning by the state of Ohio.
To his supporters, his death for committing one of the most heinous crimes in Akron history came too soon. To the family of one of his victims, the 22-year wait for his final 17 steps was way too long.
''It's going to happen. It's going to happen. It's going to happen,'' said Mary Ann Hackenberg, the mother of Dawn McCreery, as she entered the death-house viewing area with five other family members.
The family of Wendy Offredo declined to attend.
McCreery, 20, and Offredo, 21, were raped and then beaten to death on Sept. 1, 1986, by Cooey and his accomplice, Clint Dickens.
Although Cooey contended he was too fat to execute, it took just about five minutes for the state's execution team to pierce shunts into the 270-pound man's arms.
His image was viewed on the prison's closed-circuit TV and shown to witnesses inside the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
''First time we've seen him since the trial,'' Hackenberg said to her family.
As the execution team worked to find a vein, Cooey became agitated.
''I want to talk to Greg Meyers,'' Cooey yelled while lying on a table.
Meyers was one of Cooey's public defenders, who had filed appeals arguing that his obesity and poor veins made death by lethal injection problematic.
But the team soon located veins, attached the shunt and secured them with Ace bandages. Cooey then began his walk into the execution chamber.
As he approached the gurney, he glanced only briefly at McCreery's family, who sat in six chairs on the other side of a large window. Surrounding the family were reporters, victim advocates and prison officials.
Cooey's three attorneys and a spiritual advisor were seated on the opposite end of the room, separated from McCreery's family by a partition.
Cooey, 41, was compliant as prison workers placed four straps over his body and straps on each arm.
Warden Phillip Kerns then put a microphone near Cooey's mouth as the condemned man looked up at the ceiling. Kerns asked if Cooey wanted to make a statement.
''For what?'' Cooey said angrily. ''You [expletive] haven't paid attention to what I've had to say over the past 22 years. Why are you going to pay attention to what I have to say now?''
With that, at 10:20 a.m. the warden signaled the start of the flow of drugs. One put Cooey to sleep, a second paralyzed him, and a third stopped his heart. Cooey tapped his fingers on the gurney as the process unfolded.
The witness room fell silent. The only sounds were from reporters scribbling notes and the growl of empty stomachs.
By 10:28 a.m., Cooey was pronounced dead.
Hackenberg hugged her son, Robert McCreery Jr., seated to her right, and her former husband, Robert McCreery Sr., who sat to her left. The three were about 10 feet away from Cooey.
The family declined to speak afterward. Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, who came to Lucasville for the execution, talked the family.
Walsh said the McCreerys were disappointed that Cooey again failed to apologize or show any remorse.
''Instead, he was vulgar and hateful until the end,'' Walsh said.
Cooey was 19 and on leave from the Army when he and Dickens, 17, tossed rocks from an overpass onto Interstate 77 near Copley Road. After one of the rocks disabled Offredo's car, the two robbed, abducted, raped and then strangled and beat Offredo and McCreery to death. Cooey and Dickens carved an X into the abdomen of each woman and dumped their bodies in Norton.
Cooey was arrested within days after bragging to friends and trying to pawn the women's jewelry.
He has denied killing the women, contending it was Dickens who delivered the fatal blows.
As a juvenile, Dickens was not eligible for the death penalty. He is serving a life sentence.
Cooey had appealed his case ever since his conviction in December 1986.
In 2003, he was within 12 hours of being executed before a federal judge granted him a stay. Dana Cole, a UA law professor and one of Cooey's attorneys who witnessed the death, said Cooey came to terms with his inevitable execution Monday night, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal.
Cooey slept less than 90 minutes overnight, awakening about 5:20 a.m. and showering. He declined breakfast and visited with his attorneys.
Cooey's body will be cremated and Cole, Cole's brother James, and attorney Eric Allen intend to take the ashes to Ireland, as Cooey requested.
Cole criticized Ohio's use of the death penalty, saying Cooey had changed and was loved by his family, friends and lawyers.
''The crimes that Rick committed, he committed as an immature 19-year-old influenced by drugs and alcohol,'' Dana Cole said. ''We like to pretend that we're somehow better than Rick. But what we witnessed here today was a killing that was planned and funded for more than 22 years. The man killed was not the same man who committed these crimes.''
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
LUCASVILLE: Twenty-five people gathered in a cramped, concrete-walled room to watch Richard Wade Cooey take his last breath.
Some 8,079 days after he raped and brutally killed two University of Akron sorority sisters, Cooey was executed this morning by the state of Ohio.
To his supporters, his death for committing one of the most heinous crimes in Akron history came too soon. To the family of one of his victims, the 22-year wait for his final 17 steps was way too long.
''It's going to happen. It's going to happen. It's going to happen,'' said Mary Ann Hackenberg, the mother of Dawn McCreery, as she entered the death-house viewing area with five other family members.
The family of Wendy Offredo declined to attend.
McCreery, 20, and Offredo, 21, were raped and then beaten to death on Sept. 1, 1986, by Cooey and his accomplice, Clint Dickens.
Although Cooey contended he was too fat to execute, it took just about five minutes for the state's execution team to pierce shunts into the 270-pound man's arms.
His image was viewed on the prison's closed-circuit TV and shown to witnesses inside the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville.
''First time we've seen him since the trial,'' Hackenberg said to her family.
As the execution team worked to find a vein, Cooey became agitated.
''I want to talk to Greg Meyers,'' Cooey yelled while lying on a table.
Meyers was one of Cooey's public defenders, who had filed appeals arguing that his obesity and poor veins made death by lethal injection problematic.
But the team soon located veins, attached the shunt and secured them with Ace bandages. Cooey then began his walk into the execution chamber.
As he approached the gurney, he glanced only briefly at McCreery's family, who sat in six chairs on the other side of a large window. Surrounding the family were reporters, victim advocates and prison officials.
Cooey's three attorneys and a spiritual advisor were seated on the opposite end of the room, separated from McCreery's family by a partition.
Cooey, 41, was compliant as prison workers placed four straps over his body and straps on each arm.
Warden Phillip Kerns then put a microphone near Cooey's mouth as the condemned man looked up at the ceiling. Kerns asked if Cooey wanted to make a statement.
''For what?'' Cooey said angrily. ''You [expletive] haven't paid attention to what I've had to say over the past 22 years. Why are you going to pay attention to what I have to say now?''
With that, at 10:20 a.m. the warden signaled the start of the flow of drugs. One put Cooey to sleep, a second paralyzed him, and a third stopped his heart. Cooey tapped his fingers on the gurney as the process unfolded.
The witness room fell silent. The only sounds were from reporters scribbling notes and the growl of empty stomachs.
By 10:28 a.m., Cooey was pronounced dead.
Hackenberg hugged her son, Robert McCreery Jr., seated to her right, and her former husband, Robert McCreery Sr., who sat to her left. The three were about 10 feet away from Cooey.
The family declined to speak afterward. Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, who came to Lucasville for the execution, talked the family.
Walsh said the McCreerys were disappointed that Cooey again failed to apologize or show any remorse.
''Instead, he was vulgar and hateful until the end,'' Walsh said.
Cooey was 19 and on leave from the Army when he and Dickens, 17, tossed rocks from an overpass onto Interstate 77 near Copley Road. After one of the rocks disabled Offredo's car, the two robbed, abducted, raped and then strangled and beat Offredo and McCreery to death. Cooey and Dickens carved an X into the abdomen of each woman and dumped their bodies in Norton.
Cooey was arrested within days after bragging to friends and trying to pawn the women's jewelry.
He has denied killing the women, contending it was Dickens who delivered the fatal blows.
As a juvenile, Dickens was not eligible for the death penalty. He is serving a life sentence.
Cooey had appealed his case ever since his conviction in December 1986.
In 2003, he was within 12 hours of being executed before a federal judge granted him a stay. Dana Cole, a UA law professor and one of Cooey's attorneys who witnessed the death, said Cooey came to terms with his inevitable execution Monday night, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal.
Cooey slept less than 90 minutes overnight, awakening about 5:20 a.m. and showering. He declined breakfast and visited with his attorneys.
Cooey's body will be cremated and Cole, Cole's brother James, and attorney Eric Allen intend to take the ashes to Ireland, as Cooey requested.
Cole criticized Ohio's use of the death penalty, saying Cooey had changed and was loved by his family, friends and lawyers.
''The crimes that Rick committed, he committed as an immature 19-year-old influenced by drugs and alcohol,'' Dana Cole said. ''We like to pretend that we're somehow better than Rick. But what we witnessed here today was a killing that was planned and funded for more than 22 years. The man killed was not the same man who committed these crimes.''
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Posted 02:10 PM, 10/14/2008
I don't understand why the McCreery family would expect anything less. I wonder if they feel any better now?
akron, oh
Posted 02:26 PM, 10/14/2008
I doubt anything could make them feel better about the brutal torture and killing of there daughter.
Closure might be a better word.
mogadore, oh
Posted 02:33 PM, 10/14/2008
WHY SHOULD HE BE SPREAD IN IRELAND, WHY NOT IN A SEWER
Posted 02:40 PM, 10/14/2008
Could we PLEASE not waste any more ABJ ink on this wart on the face of humanity? Phil Trexler's pretty prose cannot cover the ugliness that was Richard Cooey. Let's do the best thing we possibly can and forget he ever existed. That is the closest thing to justice that the families will ever get.
Posted 02:44 PM, 10/14/2008
'' Dana Cole said. ''The man killed was not the same man who committed these crimes.''
Sorry, were that true, somewhere in the 22 years, Cooey would have had and shown some remorse for his crime. Apparently he did not. Nor did he even express any regret to the victims families his actions, caused so much loss and sorrow.
I am very sure, both women too, fought just as hard, pleaded with their captors, for their life, just as Cooey did with the courts - only both women were truely innocent.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 03:05 PM, 10/14/2008
I suppose the trip to Ireland is at the taxpayers expense?! B.S.
Posted 03:15 PM, 10/14/2008
Thank God it's finally over!!!! I can't afford to go to Ireland (or even leave Ohio) but this monster is now going there. I'd like to know what is wrong with our legal system that leaves a killer like Cooey alive for over 2 decades. Ship them to Iraq to fight and bring our soldiers home or else carry out their sentences within a couple days of sentencing. Sell tickets or take them to the middle of town for all to watch. This guy destroyed too many lives that day. I knew both of them and Cooey was always a bully and monster even when he was little. The world is a lot better now.
Copley, OH
Posted 03:20 PM, 10/14/2008
Dana Cole -- if your sister, daughter or loved one were one of the victims, would you still feel the same?? The man never apologized. How could he be a "changed" man. Did you know him before? How do you know he changed. It appears in the end, he had not changed. I am glad he was anxious about his death -- that is a consolation to know that he was going to die -- now he knows how those poor girls felt -- that had no control over the timing of their death and knew they were going to die. the only bad thing is Cooey's was humane.
akron, oh
Posted 03:30 PM, 10/14/2008
It's done and over. Time to quit talking about it and move on. Remember the victims the people hurt by this, but don't let it destroy more lives.
If his family or friends want to take him to Ireland, so be it. I seriously doubt that anybody but the family/friends are paying for that trip and as horrible as he was, his family needs closure too.
Posted 03:40 PM, 10/14/2008
I believe Ireland has laws against littering, hopefully they will be arrested as they scatter the trash they are taking there.
May the victim's families gain the closure and peace that only justice can bring.
Posted 03:47 PM, 10/14/2008
This man was a menace to society! How gross can you be??? What a fat pig! Those poor girls... Maybe their families will have some closure, not that it will bring them back. May you and everyone else who commits such crimes ROT IN HELL!!!
Posted 04:01 PM, 10/14/2008
THE ONLY THING WRONG WITH WHAT HAPPENED TODAY...IS THAT IT TOOK US 22 YEARS TO GET TO THIS DAY!!
MAY THESE YOUNG LADIES REST IN PEACE AND MAY THIS BRING CLOSURE TO THE FAMILIES!!
Fairlawn, OH
Posted 04:13 PM, 10/14/2008
The say he's to be Cremated at Taxpayer Expense?
Easy...
One gallon of gas...$2.89
One pack of matches...$0.49
Total cost to cremate the fat pig? $3.38
There's your total "Taxpayer Expense". Anything more spent on that should lead to an investigation of the system and the removal of whoever's in charge.
Copley, OH
Posted 04:19 PM, 10/14/2008
Awesome Brent!
akron, oh
Posted 04:24 PM, 10/14/2008
There is no such thing as peace. He might be gone, but the family will always have the heart ach of what he has done to them. I hope that someday down the line they will find peace that they deserve.
My heart goes out to both family of the women. My heart will never go out to the monster family.
Posted 04:25 PM, 10/14/2008
It's about time.
I would have given the executioner a standing ovation when Cooey was pronounced dead.
Posted 04:33 PM, 10/14/2008
Remember this pig each time you excuse your kids brutal and cowardly bullying of some smaller innocent kid,, do you wish to see a child grow up like this monster? As a child i had the good luck to be able to fight back, but not all are able. THINK ABOUT IT
Posted 04:42 PM, 10/14/2008
About 5 years ago - maybe a few more the OHIO voters voted down a bill stating that you can only have 3 appeals --now they can appeal as many times as they wish. So thank the Ohio voters for that. Thank them for wasting money to keep these monsters behind bars for 22 years, when they should have been put to death years ago. I am a Ohio tax payer. I follow the rules and they get to reap the benefits of having 3 meals a day, a warm place to sleep and cloths on thier backs. So if your mad because it took 22 years to put this monster to death--be mad at the people who VOTED NO on the 3 appeals LAW. I shure am. That money we wasted keeping him alive could have went to our children's education.
Posted 04:45 PM, 10/14/2008
Iknow what he did was unGodly and my heart goes out to those families who have to go through this all over again. But are we better than he is by making the decision to kill someome. It's not right for him nor the system to make that decision.3 Life sentences with no parole should have been done. Because the Lord will handle things his way. Now these people is going to have to explain when the time comes why they shall be forgivin,an d enter the pearly gates of heaven. To the families I am sorry for what this man put you through. But the Lord don't put anything more on you that you can bere. God bless you all.
Akron, Oh
Posted 04:54 PM, 10/14/2008
Even if a guilty person repents, our course of justice should not change one bit. Repentence neither trumps guilt nor accountability nor consequences. Repentence is irrelevant to justice. That is one of the very good reasons why she is depicted as blindfolded.
Posted 04:56 PM, 10/14/2008
I feel everything you all are saying and feeling. But do this make it right. No, now we are just like him. A murder. I hope this gave the family closure. Now his family who didn't do the crime are feeling just like you. And all this killing still dosen't bring any of them back. no one should have to go through this. And I will pray that nothing like this happens to anyone else. My heart goes out to you all. God bless.
Posted 04:59 PM, 10/14/2008
i
Danville, CA
Posted 05:22 PM, 10/14/2008
NO. We are NOT just like him.
They shoulda hung him but at least he's gone.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 05:46 PM, 10/14/2008
"The man killed was not the same man who committed these crimes." And yet, for some unfathomable reason, his victims are STILL DEAD. If one budding young psycho out there hears this story and thinks twice, then Cooey will not have died in vain. And if not, at least we're rid of a piece of human trash.
Posted 05:50 PM, 10/14/2008
To all you anti death penalty babies: Quit trying to compare the guilty to the innocent VICTIMS. This scum was not "murdered" by the state. Only innocent people are "murdered". Those who commit murder are given justice. A murderer should not have the right to be judged like the VICTIMS.
somewhere near you, OH
Posted 07:05 PM, 10/14/2008
Finally, now let's get going on the next in line. We waste far too much time between the trial and carrying out the sentence.
Posted 07:06 PM, 10/14/2008
Why not just tatoo "PIECE OF S*** RAPIST" on these guys' foreheads, and send them back out into society and then let the fun of real justice begin.
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:20 PM, 10/14/2008
Much emotions and very little cognition is on this site. Justice has prevailed in this execution. Saying so is cognition and not emotion. Let this be the last word.
Anti-Politically Correct & Anti-GOP, OH
Posted 08:33 PM, 10/14/2008
The air is much cleaner since this morning. Can we get rid of eCheck now?
Posted 09:05 PM, 10/14/2008
Cooey had one last chance to do the decent thing and admit he did it and apologize to the families. He did not and he called them names and cursed them and still claimed his innocence. I may have had an ounce of compassion for him had he admitted his guilty and accepted his punishment. The only other thing worse then Cooey was having to hear that Sherri Walsh who barely comes to work took the time to drive to Lucasville and posture for political reasons. Maybe some day we would be seeing someone who committed a crime during her tenure being put to death but she plea bargains that ending away. Sherri Walsh, you are a pathetic human being. vote for Nancy Morrison
Posted 09:36 PM, 10/14/2008
WHAT A SHAME HE HAD ALL THOSE YEARS TO APPEAL HIS VICTIMS DIDNT HAVE ANY MORE YEARS THIS MAN HAD NO REMORSE FOR HIS ACTIONS BUT WE HAD TO HEAR ABOUT HOW INHUMAN IT WAS TO EXECUTE HIM BECAUSE HE WAS TO FAT HOW INSANE IS THAT I HOPE THE HOUNDS OF HELL HAVE FUN WITH HIM
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 09:41 PM, 10/14/2008
Hey Jenny,
Great comments about Sherri Bevan Walsh. I already made up my mind not to vote for her when she let that guy off for murdering his brother-in-law. But I guess that's OK because at least we don't have to use tax payers money to keep him in prison for 22 years. Go Nancy Morrison.
Posted 09:51 PM, 10/14/2008
The Death Penalty should be expanded to other crimes and the appeals process limited. This was an open and shut case and society spent years jacking around with this animal. It would help if we used the death penalty as a deterrent but when it takes this long to go through with the deed it is not effective. Time to regulate on these trash bags as it is not worth wasting the money on housing them in prison for so many years. It costs over 30,000 a year to house someone on death row. Who thinks that is worth it.
Posted 11:26 PM, 10/14/2008
I believe the death penalty is not used enough. Anyone with 3 felonies or more, and those with life sentences, should be put on a donor list. If a law abiding productive member of society needs an organ, and a prisoner is a match, well society prevails. When the convicted prisoner's attorney want's to appeal, they have a year to make an appeal of a lifetime. If that fails well, the prisoner dies. Why should the law abiding productive tax payers spend billions of taxes on prisons. My bible says an eye for an eye. But this isnt the United States anymore. Theres nothing united about it.
Posted 11:43 PM, 10/14/2008
I just cannot believe that he would actually complain about the discomfort he may feel after the horrible things he did to those poor girls. I do not feel sorry for him at all, he should be grateful that he wasnt put through all that they were. I do feel sorry for his family, just because hes a bad person doesnt mean they are too, and of course they would want to believe that he was "changed", but if he was, he would have been horribly sorry for all of the things that he had done. It doesnt sound like he was sorry at all. People capable of that, with no remorse, shouldnt be allowed to be part of society, and we cant afford to continue housing them, so what choice is there? I think that anyone who intentionally commits a murder should be put to death. They arent fit for society.
Akron's downward sprial ~ Rips my Heart out , oh
Posted 12:25 AM, 10/15/2008
* I will never understand *
WADSWORTH, OH
Posted 05:09 AM, 10/15/2008
I wouldnt want an apology from a pig like that-now he is sitting with Helen Waite-GO TO HELEN WAITE YOU PIG!
Posted 06:27 AM, 10/15/2008
What a loser good riddence fatboy i hope now the girls familys can get closer god bless them take his ashes to ireland what the hell? i say throw them over a cow pasture let the animals walk on him
Posted 02:51 PM, 10/15/2008
God Bless the families and may they find peace in knowing that we cannot understand why such vicious crimes occur. It was nothing they did or didn't do, not something Dawn or Wendy did to provoke. As decent humans, we cannot fathom why something like this happens but have to accept that it did, understand that God is truly in the details and that he will take care of everyone - quite simply, have faith! I am glad that Cooey did not wake up on earth this morning and pray that the families of these two young ladies awoke with a sense of peace - may you live your lives the way that your children would have wanted you to!
