RICHARD WADE COOEY II (EXECUTED IN OHIO ON OCTOBER 14, 2008)

                On this date, October 14, 2008, Richard Wade Cooey II was put to death by lethal injection in Ohio. He was convicted of the double murders of Wendy Jo Offredo and Dawn McCreery on September 1, 1986. Please go to the Unit 1012 Blog to hear from the victims’ families. 

Richard Wade Cooey II

Victim, Dawn McCreery

Victim, Wendy Jo Offredo

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/cooey1124.htm

Summary: Dawn McCreery, 20, and Wendy Offredo, 21, were University of Akron sorority sisters who were leaving their jobs as waitresses when 17-year-old Clint Dickens threw a chunk of concrete off an I-77 overpass, striking the windshield of the car that Ms. Offredo was driving. Cooey, who was 19 and on leave from the U.S. Army, was hanging out with a longtime friend, Kenny Horonetz, and Dickens. The three got into a car and offered the two women help. The five drove to a shopping mall and Ms. Offredo used a pay phone to call her mother. "I'm game if you're game," Cooey said as Dickens suggested they rob the two women. Cooey pulled a knife on the women when they realized they were not being driven back to their car. Horonetz demanded to be let out of the car after Cooey told him to tie Ms. McCreery's hands. Driving to a wooded area in nearby Norton, Dickens and Cooey both raped the two girls. Dickens then suggested the women should be killed because they knew his name, records show. Dickens grabbed Ms. Offredo in a chokehold, and Cooey used a shoelace to strangle her as Dickens strangled Ms. McCreery with his other shoelace. Cooey beat both women with a club. Dickens was sentenced to life in prison for the crimes, in which both girls suffered through more than three hours of torture. 

Citations:
Cooey v. Coyle, 289 F.3d 882 (6th Cir. 2002) (Habeas)
State v. Cooey, Not Reported in N.E.2d, 1987 WL 31921 (Ohio App. 1987). (Direct Appeal) 

Final/Special Meal:
A T-bone steak with A1 sauce, french fries and onion rings, four eggs over easy, hash browns, buttered toast, bear claw pastries, a pint of Rocky Road ice cream and Mountain Dew. 

Final Words:
''You [expletive] have not paid attention to anything I've had to say for the past 22 years. Why would you pay attention to anything I have to say now?'' 

Internet Sources:

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Inmate#: OSP #A194-16
Inmate: Richard Wade Cooey II
DOB: 06/09/67
County of Conviction: Summit County
Date of Offense: September 1, 1986
Date of Admission: 12/10/86
Gender: Male
Race: White
Institution: Southern Ohio Correctional Facility 
Convictions: AGG MURDER WITH SPECIFICATIONS (2 COUNTS), KIDNAPPING (2 COUNTS), RAPE (4 COUNTS), AGG ROBBERY (2 COUNTS), FELONIOUS ASSAULT