December 28, 1987 was the date of the worst mass murder in the history of Arkansas.
Those of us that remember that day will never forget the tragic events that unfolded in Russellville and Dover. It was a tragic and unthinkable Christmas time crime.
Ronald Gene Simmons was a retired Air Force sergeant and Viet Nam-era veteran and lived in Cloudcroft, New Mexico when he feared he was on the verge of being arrested for molestation of his daughter . He decided to move to Arkansas to escape an investigation and in 1981 he moved his rather large family to a rural area outside of Dover.
He ruled his house with an iron fist and very few knew of the horrible conditions in which his wife and children lived. Simmons was no doubt one of the most evil people to ever live in our state.
Simmons had been having relations with his daughter for several years and she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. But of all the unimaginable things he did, nothing would compare to the week of Christmas in 1987.
He had some of his children dig a hole in the back yard, described as a cesspool, but the children had no idea what part this hole would play in their tragic deaths.
On the morning of December 22nd Simmons went to Wal-Mart and bought a 22- caliber pistol. Simmons returned home and killed his son Gene in a bedroom of their modest home.
Next was his wife Rebecca and his three- year old granddaughter Barbara.
It is believed that Simmons then sat down in the living room and drank a few beers after killing the three. He then took their bodies out and dumped them in the hole the children had dug days before under Simmon's supervision.
Simmons then sat and drank while waiting on the school aged children to get off the school bus.
Once he children that attended school arrived home he explained he had their Christmas present but wanted to give them their gifts one at a time.
He took the children, one-by one-out of view of the remaining children and killed them.
The first of this group was his 17-year old daughter and he took her around to the back of the house and held her head in a rain barrel that was there to catch rain water. He held her under the water until she drowned.
Each child must have anxiously waited their turn to receive a much wanted or anticipated gift only to find when it was their turn, they met with a gruesome death at the hands of their own father.
After those killings, Simmons sat and drank beer and waited until December 26 when his other children were due to arrive to celebrate Christmas.
The first to arrive that day were his son Billy , daughter-in-law, and small grandson. Simmons shot all three shortly after they entered the home.
The next members to arrive were Simmon's daughter Sheila, the same daughter he had gotten pregnant a few years earlier. He killed Sheila, the little girl that Simmons had fathered. He also killed Sheila's husband and tiny son the couple had since they had married. He shot all four of them.
By the time Simmon's deadly rampage ended at his home, he had killed a total of fourteen members of his family.
He laid some of the bodies in rows and covered them with coats, except his daughter Sheila, who was covered up with her mothers good tablecloth. The two smallest grandsons were wrapped up and placed in abandoned cars at the end of the property.
As soon as Monday morning rolled around, Simmons drove to a law office in Russellville and shot a woman named Kathy Kendrick. It was later said that he blamed her for many of his problems.
It is also said that she reminded him of his daughter Sheila and that he made advances towards her but she had denied him. He walked in and shot her dead in the office.
Simmons then drove to an oil company where he shot and killed a man named J D Chaffin and shot and wounded the owner of the oil company. He then left the oil company and drove to a convenience store where he once worked and shot and wounded more people.
His final stop was another office where he wounded a woman and then sat and chatted with one of the secretaries while the police were being dispatched. He was arrested without any struggle and handed over his pistol with no resistance.
Two very telling notes were found in the Simmon's home, one was from his wife Rebecca to one of her children stating she was a prisoner in her home and she needed to get the children out and escape.
The other was written by Richard Gene Simmons to his daughter Sheila after she reported him for molesting her:
"You have destroyed me, and you have destroyed my trust in you . . . I will see you in Hell."
Ronald Gene Simmons was charged with 16 counts of murder and was promptly found guilty and sentenced to death.
Simmons made the following statement after the verdict:
“I, Ronald Gene Simmons, Sr., want it to be known that it is my wish and my desire that absolutely no action by anybody be taken to appeal or in any way change this sentence. It is further respectfully requested that this sentence be carried out expeditiously.”
On June 25, 1990 he finally got his wish and was executed by lethal injection.
None of his surviving relatives would claim the body, and he was buried in a potter’s field.
