The last words of the serial killer who was executed for murdering six gay men
Serial killer Gary Ray Bowles was executed, after being sentenced to die for the 1994 murders of six men (A&E)
The last words of serial killer Gary Ray Bowles have been revealed in a statement read after his execution.
Bowles, 57, was put to death at a prison in Florida on Thursday, August 22, 23 years after he was sentenced to death over the murders of six gay men.
He opted to eat cheeseburgers, french fries and bacon as his last meal.
In his final words, read to reporters after his death, Bowles attempted to apologise to his mother.
‘You don’t wake up and decide to become a serial killer.’
He said: “I’m sorry for all the pain and suffering I have caused. I hope my death eases your pain.
“I want to tell my mother that I am also sorry for my actions.
“Having to deal with your son being called a monster is terrible. I’m so very sorry.
“I never wanted this to be my life. You don’t wake up one day and decide to become a serial killer.”
Gary Ray Bowles in an undated prison photograph. (Florida Department of Corrections)
Bowles had not previously expressed remorse for his actions, saying in a 2014 interview with A&E: “It’s not hard to kill somebody… you can kill somebody pretty easy if you have the mindset for it.
“The people I’ve killed were all connected in the same way. In my mind, they all got what they deserved. I thought it was the right thing to do… I just wanted to kill as many people as I could before they caught me.”
Gary Ray Bowles ‘hated’ gay people and humiliated his victims.
During his 1994 murder spree, Bowles picked up his victims from gay bars, beating and strangling the men to death.
Bowles was known as the ‘I-95 killer’, because most of his victims lived near the Interstate-95 highway on the east cost of the United States.
His victims included Walter Hinton, John Hardy Roberts, David Harman, Milton Bradley, Alverson Carter Jr, and Albert Morris. All of his known victims were gay men.
Before killing them, Bowles would humiliate his victims by shoving objects down their throats, including towels, leaves, toilet paper and a sex toy.
Bowles, who expressed homophobic views, had served prison sentences prior to the killings for robberies and the violent rape of his girlfriend.
He told police that he started to hate gay people while working as a prostitute, and also blamed gay men for his girlfriend’s abortion.
