The execution of serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech has been called off at the last-minute after medical staff failed eight times to find a vein to administer a lethal injection.
The murderer, 73, was strapped into the execution chamber and witnesses were assembled, but returned to his cell after a ‘frustrating’ 55-minutes where medics struggled to insert an IV line.
Creech was sentenced to death for the 1981 fatal beating of a fellow prisoner with a sock filled with batteries, and 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 a half-dozen others across the nation.
At a post-execution press conference, witnesses said Creech’s eyes were glued to his family as he mumbled the words ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I love you’, before nodding at a warden when they eventually told him he wouldn’t die today.
Thomas Creech, 73, is set to be executed over the 1981 fatal beating of his cellmate. He has ben convicted of five murders, but has confessed to as many as 42 murders across the nation
The serial killer is set to be executed at 10am local time Wednesday in the death chamber (pictured) at Idaho’s Maximum Security Institution
Journalists that witnessed the episode gave a harrowing minute-by-minute breakdown of the botched execution at the press conference, which one reporter said began with a mysterious ‘banging’ noise that filled the chamber for several minutes.
Creech, who one reporter claimed had ‘tears in his eyes’, was then wheeled into the room already strapped to a gurney shortly after 10am, and witnesses said he ‘wasn’t moving much.’
Idaho Department of Corrections Director Josh Tewalt said that Creech underwent regular medical checks this morning and came back all clear, and doctors didn’t envisage any issues.
However, one reporter said that inserting the first IV line was unsuccessful within two minutes.
They noted that the ordeal took such a long time as the process for finding an IV line involves several steps, such as cleaning the skin, and medics took to using a blood pressure cuff to help his veins stand out.
Tewalt said the issue was primarily with vein access, but medics did manage to find a vein on at least one occasion but were concerned about ‘vein quality.’
As they attempted to find a line on several limbs, the medics moved to Creech’s feet, and they tried to inject him through the gurney straps by his ankles.
At that moment, the killer lifted his head and said, ‘my feet hurt a little bit.’
The witnesses also noted that Creech was waggling his fingers and mouthing words to his family throughout the ordeal, but they couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Eventually, after almost 45 minutes of botched attempts, they said the prison officials appeared to whisper to each other, before leaving to get more needles from another room.
Shortly after the eighth and final IV line failed, the warden entered the room and announced the execution was off, drawing gasps from the witness box.
One reporter also noted that Creech ‘nodded back’ to the warden when he told him he wouldn’t die today.
After hearing of his fate, Creech looked back at his family, then looked up at the sky while mouthing words before he was wheeled back out of the chamber.
The Idaho Maximum Security Institution is shown, near Kuna, Idaho on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024
The infamous serial killer seen in a recent image from behind bars
After the execution was unsuccessful, Creech’s attorneys released a fiery statement condemning Idaho officials for even attempting the execution of a ‘harmless old man’
His victim’s sister, Colette Cohen, told KIVITV before the execution failed that she hoped ‘state of Idaho finally does what needs to be done, because it’s time.’
For what would have been his last meal, Creech enjoyed fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, dinner rolls and ice cream.
Failure to insert IV lines has become a frequent problem with executions in America, and the issue was the reason killer Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia in Alabama last month.
Tewalt said that the department has no timeline for any future executions of Creech at this moment.
Before his execution, the Idaho Department of Corrections said Creech ‘remained cooperative’, and had a visitation from his wife and spiritual advisor.
Creech was initially sentenced to death for the murders of two house painters in Donnelly, Idaho in 1974.
His death sentence was reversed two years later by the US Supreme Court, when it banned automatic death sentences and he received life in prison.
He then attacked and killed his cellmate David Jensen, a disabled man serving time for car theft, with a sock filled with batteries in 1981, earning him another death sentence.
Since then, Creech has sat on death row for almost half a century, and has seen his execution scheduled 11 times over the years.
After his conviction in 1981, Creech told KTVB that he was ‘ready to die’ and was asking his attorneys to seek the death penalty, saying it was ‘hard to live with all the things I’ve done. I mean I have dreams about it. I wake up in the middle of the night.’
Creech seen in a 1981 interview, where he said he hoped for the death penalty because he was ‘ready to die.’ He was set to be executed 43 years later on Wednesday, before the execution failed
Creech then changed his tune and made numerous efforts to stay his execution, including a recent argument by his attorneys that he could be put to death with expired lethal injection drugs.
However, his hopes of having his execution halted took a hit this morning, as the US Supreme Court denied his writ of certiorari, meaning it will not block his execution.
Creech was relying on a last-minute stay on his execution from the governor, before the IV line malfunction.
The killer’s attorneys have filed Hail Mary appeals in at least four courts in recent months to try and halt the execution, including arguments that the state refuses to say where its execution drugs were obtained.
They have also claimed his conviction by a judge instead of a jury should also cancel the execution, however that petition was rejected on Friday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Creech was sentenced to death in 1981 for the fatal beating of his disabled cellmate David Jensen (pictured) with a sock filled with batteries
Just four weeks before his scheduled execution, Creech was found to be responsible for the murder of Daniel A. Walker (pictured) in 1974
Officials are still unclear how many people Creech killed, with his confessions of almost 50 murders seen as exaggerated by some.
Prosecutors have focused on 11 that they believe he was responsible for, including a cold case that was solved just four weeks ago.
He was found to be the perpetrator in the October 1974 murder of Daniel A. Walker, who was shot randomly as he slept by the side of a highway.
The dozens of murder confessions were reportedly made under the influence of since-discredited ‘truth serum’ drugs, according to local outlet KFOR.
Creech’s myriad confessions included outlandish stories of human sacrifices and contract killings for the Hell’s Angels biker gang.
He first stood trial in 1973 for the murder of 70-year-old Paul Schrader, in Tuscon, Arizona, after he was caught using the man’s credit cards and vehicle as he fled to Portland, Oregon.
Despite authorities saying they are certain he was the killer, a jury acquitted him in that trail.
The next year, while committed to Oregon State Hospital, Creech was handed a weekend pass by the institution, allowing 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 he would be delayed by a day on his return to Oregon.
Robinson’s murder went unsolved until Creech confessed in 1980, by which time he was already serving life in prison.
Creech is one of the longest serving death row inmates in the nation at 43 years
Following his release from Oregon State Hospital in 1974, Creech began working at a church in Portland doing maintenance work.
That year, he shot and killed William Joseph Dean, 22, in his living quarters at the church, before also committing the murder of Sandra Jane Ramsamooj at a nearby grocery store.
His trail of terror came to an end that year, after he and a girlfriend were hitchhiking to Idaho and were picked up by two painters.
The painters, Thomas Arnold and John Bradford, were shot dead by Creech during the trip, and his girlfriend led authorities to him.
While behind bars, Creech has made a number 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.
After the execution was unsuccessful, Creech’s attorneys released a fiery statement condemning Idaho officials for even attempting the execution of a ‘harmless old man.’
‘We are angered but not surprised that the State of Idaho botched the execution of Thomas Creech today,’ the attorneys, with the Federal Defender Services of Idaho, said.
‘This is what happens when unknown individuals with unknown training are assigned to carry out an execution. This morning, they tried and failed 10 times to access Tom’s veins in both of his arms and both legs so they could inject him with the State’s mysteriously acquired pentobarbital.
‘This is precisely the kind of mishap we warned the State and the Courts could happen when attempting to execute one of the country’s oldest death-row inmates in circumstances completely shieled in secrecy despite a well-known history or getting drugs from shady sources.
‘Yesterday, the State called Mr. Creech’s worries ‘patently absurd’ in its motions to the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately, what is absurd is Idaho’s continuing efforts to kill this harmless old man, who by this point surely has suffered enough.’