Serial Killers' Last Meals: What 15 Death Row Inmates Ordered

Aileen Wuornos turned down her last meal. On the morning of October 9, 2002, she was given a cup of coffee instead, United Press International reported that day. Ted Bundy also declined a special meal in 1989. Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered a feast in 2011, ate none of it, and within days Texas stopped taking last meal requests.

Below are the last meals of 15 people executed in the United States between 1928 and 2011. Six of them were convicted of killing three or more people in separate crimes: Marion Albert Pruett, Wuornos, Bundy, Danny Rolling, William Bonin, and John Wayne Gacy. The others were convicted of one or two murders, or in Timothy McVeigh's case, of the bombing that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City. For each meal we name the news report or prison record it comes from. Where the menu that gets passed around online has no source we could find, we say so.

Ed Gein is not on this list, because he was never executed. That is covered at the end.

The 15 last meals

1. Marion Albert Pruett

As a 10th grader in North Carolina, Pruett jumped onto a runaway school bus and stopped it, saving his brother and three other children, the Associated Press reported in 1999. By 1980 he was living in New Mexico under the name Charles "Sonny" Pearson as a federally protected witness. His cellmate had been killed in a federal prison in Atlanta. Pruett blamed another inmate, and that testimony got him into the witness protection program. He later admitted the killing himself.

Arkansas sentenced him to death for the 1981 murder of Bobbie Jean Robertson, a convenience store clerk in Fort Smith. He also received life sentences for killings in Mississippi, Colorado, and New Mexico. He was executed by lethal injection on April 12, 1999.

The meal: the menu shared online is huge. It lists a Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza, four Burger King Whoppers, fries, fried squash, fried eggplant, fried okra, a pecan pie, and three 2-liter bottles of Pepsi. We could not find it in any dated news report or prison record. The AP story from the day before his execution does not mention a meal.

2. Aileen Wuornos

Wuornos is the only female serial killer on this list. She was working as a hitchhiking prostitute along Florida highways when she shot the men she was convicted of killing in 1989 and 1990. A jury convicted her in January 1992 of murdering Richard Mallory, and she pleaded guilty or no contest to five more killings. She was never charged in the death of a seventh man, Peter Siems, whose body was never found.

The meal: none. "Wuornos declined the traditional last meal, which could have been anything she wanted for under $20, and instead was given a cup of coffee," UPI reported on the day of the execution. Older versions of this page said she ate a burger and snacks from the prison canteen. We found no source for that. Her last words, spoken minutes before she died at 9:47 a.m., are in our article on Aileen Wuornos's quotes and last words.

3. Robert Alton Harris

Harris was convicted of murdering two 16-year-old boys, John Mayeski and Michael Baker, in San Diego on July 5, 1978. He was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin on April 21, 1992. It was California's first execution in 25 years.

The meal: Harris "requested and was given two large pizzas, a bucket of fried chicken, and ice cream," according to the case summary kept by the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's office in Indiana, which collects records and news reports on U.S. executions. Versions online add brand names, a bag of jelly beans, a six-pack of Pepsi, and a pack of cigarettes. We could not find a dated source for those details.

4. Steven Woods

A jury convicted Woods in 2002 of capital murder in the 2001 killings of Ronald Whitehead, 21, and Bethena Brosz, 19, in The Colony, just outside Dallas. His co-defendant, Marcus Rhodes, pleaded guilty. Woods said to the end that Rhodes did the killing. "I never killed nobody, ever," he said in the death chamber, according to Reuters. Older versions of this page said he was executed in 2002. That is the year he was convicted. He was executed on September 13, 2011.

The meal: Reuters listed bacon; a large pizza with bacon, sausage, pepperoni, and hamburger; fried chicken breasts; chicken fried steak; hamburgers with bacon on French toast; garlic bread sticks; Mountain Dew, Pepsi, root beer, and sweet tea; and ice cream. He was one of the last Texas inmates to get a meal to order. Eight days later, Brewer's meal ended the practice.

5. Thomas Grasso

Grasso pleaded guilty to strangling Hilda Johnson, 87, in Tulsa on Christmas Eve 1990, and to murdering Leslie Holtz, 81, on Staten Island in July 1991. Oklahoma executed him by lethal injection on March 20, 1995.

The meal: two dozen steamed mussels, two dozen steamed clams, a Burger King double cheeseburger, half a dozen barbecued spare ribs, two strawberry milkshakes, half a pumpkin pie, diced strawberries, and a can of SpaghettiOs with meatballs. The kitchen sent regular spaghetti instead of the SpaghettiOs. His last words, as The Telegraph reported them in 2010: "I did not get my SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this."

6. Ruth Snyder

On March 20, 1927, Snyder and her lover, Henry Judd Gray, killed her husband, Albert, in their home in Queens and made it look like a burglary. She was sentenced to death that May. Ruth Snyder was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing on January 12, 1928. Tom Howard, a Chicago Tribune photographer working with the New York Daily News, took a picture of her in the chair with a small camera strapped to his ankle.

The meal: many lists, including an older version of this page, say she had chicken parmesan with alfredo pasta, ice cream, two milkshakes, and a 12-pack of grape soda. We could not find any source for it.

7. Ted Bundy

By his own confessions in the days before his execution, Ted Bundy kidnapped, raped, and murdered more than 30 young women and girls in the 1970s. The courts convicted him of three murders. Two were Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman, killed at the Chi Omega sorority house in Tallahassee on January 15, 1978. The third was 12-year-old Kimberly Leach, killed the next month. He was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison on January 24, 1989.

The meal: "Bundy declined a special meal, so he was given the traditional steak (medium-rare), eggs (over-easy), hash browns, toast, milk, coffee, juice, butter, and jelly," according to the Florida Department of Corrections execution list. Some lists add that he did not touch it. We could not confirm that part.

8. Danny Rolling

Rolling pleaded guilty in 1994 to murdering five young people in Gainesville, Florida, over four days in August 1990: Sonja Larson, 18; Christina Powell, 17; Christa Hoyt, 18; Tracy Paules, 23; and Manuel Taboada, 23. Hours before his execution, he confessed in a note to his minister to three killings in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1989. He was never charged with those. He was executed by lethal injection on October 25, 2006.

The meal: lobster tail, butterfly shrimp, a baked potato, strawberry cheesecake, and sweet tea, served shortly before noon. "He enjoyed his last meal. He ate every bite," Robby Cunningham, a Florida Department of Corrections spokesman, told Reuters.

9. Bruno Richard Hauptmann

Hauptmann was convicted of kidnapping and murdering Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of the pilot Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The baby was taken from the family's house near Hopewell, New Jersey, in 1932. Hauptmann was executed in the electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936.

The meal: a record of it exists. The New Jersey State Police Museum holds a prison "Death House Menu" for him dated April 3, 1936. We could not read the menu itself. The list shared online (celery, olives, buttered peas, chicken, french fries, cherries, and a slice of cake) may come from it, but we could not confirm it.

10. William Bonin

Bonin, called the Freeway Killer, was convicted of 14 murders in California: 10 in Los Angeles County and 4 in Orange County, all in 1979 and 1980. His victims were teenage boys and young men. On February 23, 1996, he became the first person California executed by lethal injection.

The meal: "two large pepperoni and sausage pizzas, three pints of coffee ice cream and three six-packs of regular Coca Cola," according to the Clark County case summary. A second account on the same page says the ice cream was chocolate.

11. John Wayne Gacy

Gacy lured boys and young men to his house near Chicago, where he assaulted and murdered them. In March 1980, a Cook County jury convicted him of 33 murders, and of deviate sexual assault and indecent liberties with a child in the case of his last victim, Robert Piest. The jury sentenced him to death for 12 of the killings, the ones prosecutors could show happened after Illinois passed its new death penalty law. He was executed by lethal injection at Stateville prison on May 10, 1994. Shop our Gacy merchandise.

The meal: "On May 9, 1994, Gacy sat down for his last meal: fried chicken, French fries, Coke and strawberry shortcake," according to Crime Library's history of the case. A longer version is shared online: a dozen fried shrimp, a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, fries, and a pound of strawberries. We could not find a dated source for it. Before his Chicago years, Gacy managed several Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Iowa, according to testimony described in the Illinois Supreme Court's ruling on his appeal.

12. Stephen Wayne Anderson

Anderson was convicted of one murder: Elizabeth Lyman, 81, shot during a burglary of her home in San Bernardino County on May 26, 1980. Older versions of this page called him a serial killer with at least eight victims. He claimed other killings, but no court ever convicted him of them. He was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin on January 29, 2002.

The meal: this one comes straight from the California Department of Corrections, in a release dated the day before: "Two (2) grilled cheese sandwiches (American cheese); One (1) pint of cottage cheese (plain, no fruit); Hominy/corn mixture (regular hominy, regular corn); One (1) piece of peach pie; One (1) pint of chocolate chip ice cream; Radishes."

13. Timothy McVeigh

McVeigh was not a serial killer. He was convicted of 11 federal crimes for the Oklahoma City bombing of April 19, 1995, which killed 168 people. Older versions of this page said he was sentenced for 168 counts of murder. His execution at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, on June 11, 2001, was the first federal execution since 1963.

The meal: "McVeigh had his last meal at noon Sunday: two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream," the Chicago Tribune reported the morning he died.

14. Ricky Ray Rector

On March 21, 1981, Rector shot and killed Arthur Criswell, 31, at a restaurant dance hall in Conway, Arkansas. Three days later he agreed to surrender to Robert Martin, a police officer he had known since childhood. When Martin arrived, Rector shot and killed him, then shot himself in the head. The wound left him with severe brain damage. Arkansas executed him by lethal injection on January 24, 1992. Governor Bill Clinton, then running for president, went back to Arkansas to handle the case himself.

The meal: steak, fried chicken, cherry Kool-Aid, and pecan pie. He left the pie on the tray and told the officers who came for him that he was saving it for later. Marshall Frady described it in a 1993 New Yorker story on the execution.

15. Lawrence Russell Brewer

Brewer was convicted of capital murder in the killing of James Byrd Jr., 49, near Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. Byrd was chained to the back of a pickup truck and dragged to his death. Reuters called it a race-motivated killing. Two other men were also convicted of capital murder in the case. Brewer was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville on September 21, 2011.

The meal: the Huntsville Item listed "two chicken fried steaks, smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple meat bacon cheeseburger; a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions and jalapeños; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; a pound of BBQ with a half loaf of white bread; fajitas and Blue Bell Homemade Ice Cream." When it came, he said he was not hungry and ate none of it, Reuters reported.

How Brewer's meal ended last meal requests in Texas

Brewer was not the first prisoner to order a feast and leave it. But this time a state senator, John Whitmire, wrote to Brad Livingston, the head of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and asked him to end the practice. "Mr. Byrd didn't get to choose his last meal. The whole deal is so illogical," Whitmire said.

Livingston agreed. "Effective immediately," he replied, "no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit." The New York Times ran the story on September 22, 2011, under the headline "Texas Death Row Kitchen Cooks Its Last 'Last Meal.'"

Where last meals are still allowed, prisons set limits. Florida's limit in 2002 was $20, according to the UPI report on Wuornos. Discovery's series Death Row: The Last 24 Hours has a short clip on how a last meal is handled inside a prison:

What was Ed Gein's last meal?

Ed Gein never had one, because he was never executed. In 1968 a Wisconsin judge, Robert Gollmar, found him guilty of the 1957 murder of Bernice Worden, then found him not guilty by reason of insanity. He spent the rest of his life in state mental hospitals. He died at the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison on July 26, 1984, at 77. You can read more about him in our article on Ed Gein and the real Buffalo Bill.

Serial killer last meals FAQ

What was Ted Bundy's last meal?

He declined a special meal, so he was given the standard one: steak, eggs, hash browns, toast, milk, coffee, juice, butter, and jelly, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

What did Aileen Wuornos eat for her last meal?

Nothing. She turned down the last meal and was given a cup of coffee, UPI reported on October 9, 2002.

What was John Wayne Gacy's last meal?

Fried chicken, French fries, Coke, and strawberry shortcake, on May 9, 1994, according to Crime Library.

Why did Texas stop last meal requests?

Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered a large meal on September 21, 2011, and ate none of it. A state senator complained, and the Texas prison system ended special requests within days.

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Sources

• Koch, John. "Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos Executed." United Press International, October 9, 2002, reproduced in the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's case summary number 805. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Associated Press. "Execution set for 'Mad Dog' Pruett." Amarillo Globe-News, April 11, 1999. web.archive.org.
• Clark County Prosecuting Attorney. Case summary number 169, Robert Alton Harris, executed April 21, 1992. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Brooks, Karen. "Texas executes man for Dallas-area slayings." Reuters, September 13, 2011, reproduced in case summary number 1267. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Collins, Nick. "Last meals: weird requests on death row." The Telegraph, December 7, 2010. telegraph.co.uk.
• Florida Department of Corrections execution list, reproduced in case summary number 106, Theodore Bundy, executed January 24, 1989. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Peltier, Michael. "Florida executes 'Ripper' who terrorized campus." Reuters, October 25, 2006, reproduced in case summary number 1051. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Clark County Prosecuting Attorney. Case summary number 322, William Bonin, executed February 23, 1996. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Bell, Rachael, and Marilyn Bardsley. "John Wayne Gacy." Crime Library, and the Illinois Supreme Court opinion in People v. Gacy, both reproduced in case summary number 237, executed May 10, 1994. clarkprosecutor.org.
• California Department of Corrections. "Last Meal Request," January 28, 2002, reproduced in case summary number 754, Stephen Wayne Anderson. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Chicago Tribune, June 11, 2001, reproduced in case summary number 717, Timothy McVeigh. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Frady, Marshall. "Death in Arkansas." The New Yorker, February 22, 1993. newyorker.com.
• Brooks, Karen. "Texas executes man in race-motivated dragging death." Reuters, September 21, 2011, and Scott, Brandon. "Brewer's execution draws crowd." Huntsville Item, September 21, 2011, both reproduced in case summary number 1268. clarkprosecutor.org.
• Fernandez, Manny. "Texas Death Row Kitchen Cooks Its Last 'Last Meal.'" The New York Times, September 22, 2011. nytimes.com.
• Turner, Allan. "Last-meal requests come to an end on Texas death row." Houston Chronicle, September 23, 2011. web.archive.org.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Ed Gein," archived December 22, 2024. web.archive.org.
• Wikipedia articles "Ruth Snyder," "Bruno Richard Hauptmann," "Thomas J. Grasso," and "Rickey Ray Rector," read September 28, 2026, for background dates. Each cites the period news reports and court records behind them. en.wikipedia.org.