The family of a murdered 10-year-old girl in Oklahoma issued a stinging response to her killer’s tears as he pleaded for his life.
Jamie Rose Bolin was brutally murdered in 2006 by her neighbor Kevin Underwood, who faces the death penalty for his heinous act.
As he pleaded for compassion through tears at a clemency hearing this week, Bolin’s sister, Lori Pate, gave a scathing response to the convicted killer.
‘How dare you, Kevin Underwood, ask for clemency. How dare you look at the courts, look at Jamie’s family, then ask that of us,’ she said.
‘You, Kevin Underwood, expect us to forgive. You want us to forgive the fact that you intended on trying to consumer her.
‘You beat her like an animal and raped her. You deserve the original sentence and all the things that have come upon you.’
Underwood, who appeared in court on Zoom, apologized to the heartbroken family through crocodile tears.
‘I recognize that although I do not want to die, I recognize that I deserve to for what I did. If my death could change what I did, I would gladly die,’ he told the court.
Underwood had been convicted of what prosecutors described as a ‘pre-meditated sexual and cannibalistic fantasy.’
Jamie Rose Bolin, 10, was brutally murdered in 2006 by her neighbor, Kevin Underwood, who faces the death penalty for his heinous act
As he pleaded for his life through tears at a clemency hearing, Bolin’s sister, Lori Pate, gave a scathing response to the convicted killer
The two-month plot involved Underwood purchasing meat tenderizer powder, barbecue skewers, and a plastic tub for the body.
The court listened to Underwood’s gruesome confession, as the police tape was replayed.
‘You know, I had pretty much planned all along probably just get a kid, mainly because they would be easier to grab and get rid of-smaller,’ he said, reported KJRH.
Underwood, who was 26 at the time of the crime, had invited the young girl into his next-door Purcell apartment to play with his pet rat.
He described in the interview ‘how he had recently developed a desire to abduct a person, sexually molest them, eat their flesh, and dispose of their remains,’ the Court of Criminal Appeals wrote in 2011.
Underwood hit Bolin over the head several times with a wooden board and then suffocated her, while she had been watching SpongeBob SquarePants on his TV.
He said he tried to have sex with her body and remove her head with a dagger, before he became disgusted with himself and decided not to eat her, reported the Oklahoman.
Bolin was discovered two days later in Underwood’s apartment, hidden in his closet in the plastic tub.
As he pleaded for his life through tears at a clemency hearing, Bolin’s sister, Lori Pate, gave a scathing response to the convicted killer. Bolin’s family are seen here in the same green shirts
Tennia Lieb (R) sister of Jamie’s dad and Linda Chiles (L) an aunt talk to the media outside the McClain County Courthouse in Purcell, Oklahoma Monday, 17 April 2006
The Attorney General’s Office said claims of abuse or mental illness leading to his violent acts were false, stating that ‘he knew was he was doing’
‘Go ahead and arrest me,’ Underwood had said. ‘She’s in there. I hit her and chopped her up. I’m going to burn in hell.’
Pate wrote in an impact statement to Underwood: ‘You showed me at the age of 14 that monsters are not just something made up from story books. They wear our same clothing and walk on our same streets.’
Underwood’s attorneys told the parole board that he is severely mentally ill, not evil, and blamed abuse and his pornography addiction for his actions.
‘After a lifetime of abuse, Kevin realized he was slipping away, but he could not find himself help,’ they wrote. ‘Kevin ultimately cracked, and he decided to act on his worst fantasies, which were developed by spending the bulk of his life on the worst parts of the internet.
‘No one knows who Kevin could have been. But with a little help, we know he wouldn’t be who he is today.’
His attorney’s claimed Underwood was deeply remorseful. His mother, Connie Underwood, said: ‘I am so sorry for what Kevin did. I can’t tell you how sorry that I am for that.
‘I think of her everyday… And I know what he took away. And Kevin knows what he took away. He’s so very aware of it. It haunts him.’
Underwood, who was 26 at the time of the crime, had invited the young girl into his next-door Purcell apartment to play with his pet rat
Three board members voted against recommending clemency, and the final decision is left to Governor Kevin Stitt. He is seen here in 2008
Underwood, however, has expressed his hopes for what the afterlife will offer him.
Echoing the motivation behind his violent crimes, he hopes the afterlife will be where ‘your every fantasy comes true.’
‘If you want to torture your childhood bully, you can,’ he wrote in 2022 to a female acquaintance. ‘Basically, my hope is that there’s sex in heaven and I can indulge my every sexual fantasy.’
State Attorney General Genter Drummond and his assistants included Underwood’s remarks about the afterlife in the packet of information regarding the murder.
‘The crimes committed by Kevin Ray Underwood remain some of the most depraved and notorious in Oklahoma history,’ they told the board. ‘No mercy is warranted here.’
Underwood’s apology, however, did not prevent celebrations as his appeal for clemency was denied.
The Attorney General’s Office said claims of abuse or mental illness leading to his violent acts were false, stating that ‘he knew was he was doing.’
Johnny Tunstall (L) lays a bear at a memorial outside the apartment building were the crime took place in Purcell, Oklahoma Monday, 17 April 2006 after the arraignment hearing for Underwood
Three board members voted against recommending clemency, and the final decision is left to Govenor Kevin Stitt.
‘I am pleased the board voted to deny clemency for this deeply evil monster and ensured that justice will be delivered for Jamie Rose Bolin,’ Drummond said.
‘Jamie’s family has waited 18 excruciating years for justice that finally will be carried out when this murderer is executed.’
‘I remember watching officers from a window in Jamie’s apartment escort you to your apartment without handcuffs and back out with handcuffs,’ said Bolin’s sister.
‘You not only took her life, but you ended ours, as well. You, Kevin Underwood, single-handedly changed our family forever.’
Underwood’s execution is set for December 19 at the state penitentiary in McAlester.
