Oklahoma man Richard Rojem Jr., who was convicted of raping and murdering his stepdaughter in 1984, was served pizza and ice cream before his execution Thursday morning.
For his final meal, he ordered two small Little Caesars double cheese and double pepperoni pizzas and two scoops of vanilla ice cream, as well as a bottle of Berner’s Ginger Ale, according to The Oklahoman.
Rojem, 66, was executed by lethal injection of three drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m., prison officials said. He had not applied for a last-minute extension of his detention.
Oklahoma death row inmate executes for double murder with three final words
Richard Roghem was executed Thursday for the 1984 rape and murder of his former stepdaughter, who was 7 years old. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via The Associated Press)
Strapped to a stretcher and with an IV drip in his tattooed left arm, Rojem was asked if he had any final words. “No, I’ve already said goodbye.”
This is Oklahoma’s second execution of 2024 and the 13th since the state resumed executions in October 2021 after a hiatus of more than six years, according to The Oklahoman.
Rojem had been in prison since 1985 and was the longest serving inmate on Oklahoma’s death row.
He had denied responsibility for the murder of his former stepdaughter, Leila Cummings, whose mutilated, semi-nude body was discovered in a rural Ouachita Parish field near the town of Burns Flat on July 7, 1984. She had been kidnapped, raped and stabbed to death.
“Justice for Leila Cummings was finally achieved this morning with the execution of the monster responsible for her rape and murder,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement after Rogem’s death.
Alabama prisoner facing second nitrogen gas execution files lawsuit: ‘Pain and humiliation’
Leila Cummings was raped and murdered by Richard Roghem in 1984. (Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office)
“Layla’s family has endured unimaginable suffering for almost four decades, and we pray that today’s action brings comfort to those who loved her.”
Earlier this month, Drummond asked the state’s Pardon and Parole Board to deny clemency to Rojem.
Drummond noted that prior to the 1984 murders, Rojem served four years in a Michigan prison for raping two teenage girls.
Prosecutors argued that Rojem was angry with Cummings because he had accused her of sexually abusing him, divorced the girl’s mother and returned to prison for violating parole. The couple had been divorced for about two months at the time of the murder.
At Rojem’s pardon hearing this month, his lawyers argued that DNA results from the girl’s fingernails did not link him to the crime.
“If my client’s DNA isn’t there, he shouldn’t be found guilty,” his lawyer, Jack Fisher, said.
Prosecutors said evidence of Rojem’s crime included fingerprints found outside the girl’s apartment on a cup from a bar where he had left shortly before the girl was abducted. They also said a condom wrapper found near the girl’s body linked to a used condom found in Rojem’s bedroom.
For his final meal, Rojem ordered two Little Caesars double cheese and double pepperoni pizzas and two scoops of vanilla ice cream, as well as a bottle of Berner’s Ginger Ale, The Oklahoman reported. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
He was convicted in 1985 by an Ouachita Parish jury after deliberating for just 45 minutes. His previous death sentence was overturned twice by appeals courts for mistrials. A Custer County jury finally sentenced him to death for a third time in 2007.
While serving time in prison for raping two girls, Rojem, who was 26 at the time, married the mother of the two girls, Mindy Cummings, the sister of Rojem’s cellmate, who moved to Oklahoma after he was paroled in 1982, The Oklahoman reported, citing court records.
In a statement read by Drummond after the execution, Layla’s mother, Mindy Lynn Cummings, said, “We will forever remember, honor and hold in our hearts the sweet and special girl we knew as a seven-year-old.”
“Today marks the final chapter as a three-judge jury delivers justice for Richard Roghem’s heinous act of abducting her nearly 40 years ago.”
Click here to get the FOX News app
Leila Cummings’ body was discovered on July 7, 1984, in a rural field near the town of Burns Flat in Ouachita Parish.
While in prison, Rojem practiced Zen Buddhism and was known to other believers as “Daiji,” The Oklahoman reported, citing documents submitted by his lawyer to the parole board.
“I wasn’t a good person early in my life, and I don’t deny that,” Rojem said at a parole board hearing earlier this month.
“But I went to prison. I learned my lesson and left it all behind.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
