Wendell Grissom Obituary, Death; – Oklahoma carried out an execution on Thursday for a man convicted of fatally shooting a woman during a home invasion and robbery two decades ago.
Wendell Grissom, aged 56, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester at 10:13 a.m. This marked Oklahoma’s first execution of 2025.
Grissom and his accomplice, Jessie Floyd Johns, were found guilty of murdering 23-year-old Amber Matthews and injuring her friend, Dreu Kopf, at Kopf’s residence in Blaine County. Johns received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
While strapped to the gurney with an IV line in his right arm, Grissom expressed remorse, stating, “I apologize to all of you that I’ve hurt. I regret so much that I’ve put that hatred in your heart for me.” A minister prayed at his feet as the lethal substances began to be administered. Grissom exhaled sharply several times and was heard snoring when a doctor entered the execution chamber and confirmed his unconsciousness approximately five minutes later. He appeared to stop breathing at 10:09 a.m., and his complexion began to pale.
Over two dozen friends and family members of Matthews were present to witness Grissom’s execution.
In addition, three other executions were scheduled across the United States this week. Louisiana executed a man on Tuesday using nitrogen gas for the first time, resuming executions after a 15-year pause. A man who kidnapped and murdered his girlfriend’s ex-husband in Arizona was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Another lethal injection is set to take place on Thursday in Florida.
Prosecutors indicated that Grissom, who had an extensive criminal history, picked up Johns, who was hitchhiking. The two men were traveling west on Interstate 40 when they decided to commit robberies. They randomly targeted Kopf’s home near Watonga, where Matthews was visiting Kopf and his two young daughters.
Matthews was shot twice in the head and left critically injured on the floor, while Kopf, also shot twice and severely wounded, managed to escape in Grissom’s truck to seek help, according to prosecutors. Grissom and Johns fled the scene on a stolen four-wheeler but quickly…
