Idaho is set to execute serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech, one of the country’s longest-serving death row inmates.
Creech, 73, was sentenced to death for fatally beating a fellow inmate in 1981 with a sock full of batteries; However, he has made unsubstantiated confessions to up to 42 murders.
He was convicted of five murders in three states and is strongly suspected of at least half a dozen more across the country.
The killer is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday, but has made a last-ditch effort to stay his execution as his lawyers argue he may be executed with expired lethal injection drugs.
For his last meal, Creech enjoyed fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, biscuits and ice cream.
Thomas Creech, 73, will be executed for the fatal beating of his cellmate in 1981. He has been convicted of five murders, but has confessed to as many as 42 murders across the country.
The serial killer will be executed at 10 a.m. local time Wednesday in the death chamber (pictured) at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
Before his execution, the Idaho Department of Corrections said he “remained cooperative” and received visits from his wife and spiritual advisor.
Creech was initially sentenced to death for the murder of two house painters in Donnelly, Idaho, in 1974.
His death sentence was overturned two years later by the U.S. Supreme Court, when it banned automatic death sentences and he received a life sentence.
He then attacked and killed his cellmate David Jensen, a disabled man serving time for car theft, with a sock full of batteries in 1981, earning him another death sentence.
Since then, Creech has been on death row for nearly half a century and has been scheduled for execution 11 times over the years.
His hopes of being executed took a hit this morning, when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his writ of certiorari, meaning it will not block his execution.
Creech is dependent on a last-minute stay of his execution by the governor.
Lawyers for the killer have filed Hail Mary appeals in at least four courts in recent months to try to stop the execution, including arguments that the state refuses to say where the execution drugs were obtained.
They have also claimed that his conviction by a judge instead of a jury should also cancel the execution, however, that request was rejected on Friday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The Idaho Maximum Security Institution, near Kuna, Idaho, is shown on Wednesday, February 28, 2024.
Creech was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally beating his disabled cellmate David Jensen (pictured) with a sock full of batteries.
Just four weeks before his scheduled execution, Creech was found responsible for the 1974 murder of Daniel A. Walker (pictured).
Officials are still unclear how many people Creech killed, and some consider his confessions to nearly 50 murders to be exaggerated.
Prosecutors have focused on 11 of those they believe was responsible, including a cold case that was resolved just four weeks ago.
He was found to be the perpetrator of the October 1974 murder of Daniel A. Walker, who was shot at random while sleeping on the side of a road.
The dozens of murder confessions were reportedly made under the influence of “truth serum” drugs, since debunked, according to local media. KFOR.
Creech’s countless confessions included outlandish stories of human sacrifice and contract killings for the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang.
He was first tried in 1973 for the murder of 70-year-old Paul Schrader in Tucson, Arizona, after he was caught using the man’s credit cards and vehicle while fleeing to Portland, Oregon.
Although authorities said they were sure he was the killer, a jury acquitted him in that trial.
The following year, while he was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital, the institution gave Creech a weekend pass that allowed him to travel to Sacramento, California, where he murdered Vivian Grant Robinson in her home.
He then reportedly stole her cell phone and called the hospital to tell them her return to Oregon would be delayed by a day.
Robinson’s murder remained unsolved until Creech confessed in 1980, when he was already serving a life sentence.
Creech is one of the nation’s longest-serving death row inmates, at 43 years old.
Infamous serial killer seen in recent, undated image behind bars
After his discharge from the Oregon State Hospital in 1974, Creech began working at a church in Portland doing maintenance work.
That year, he shot and killed 22-year-old William Joseph Dean in his church home, before also committing the murder of Sandra Jane Ramsamooj in a nearby grocery store.
His trail of terror came to an end that year, after he and a girlfriend hitchhiked to Idaho and were picked up by two painters.
The painters, Thomas Arnold and John Bradford, were shot to death by Creech during the trip, and his girlfriend led authorities to him.
While behind bars, Creech made a series of disturbing confessions, some of which are likely fabricated, while others led officials to find remains.
The substantiated confessions include the murders of Gordon Lee Stanton and Charles Thomas Miller near Las Vegas, and Rick Stewart McKenzie, 22, near Baggs, Wyoming, reports KFOR.