The Ronald Gene Simmons Story
Almost a year later, they surfaced in Dover, Arkansas. Some 15 miles outside town, in a remote and densely wooded area, at the end of a rutted, red-clay drive, two old mobile homes were joined together and barricaded like a fortress with cinder blocks and barbed wire. For Simmons and his family – this was his Kingdom, and he was the King. Simmons called his Castle of squalor, “Mockingbird Hill”. The driveway was dotted with several large “No Trespassing” signs. The road leading to the home was badly rutted red clay, at times impossible to enter when wet or slick from snow and ice. The yard area, or area which the Simmons children kept mowed, was covered in piles of junk Simmons claimed to be “building materials”. There were several junk automobiles up on blocks and in various stages of demolition scattered around the home. The home itself was actually two separate mobile homes that had been haphazardly connected together to make one large structure.
It will be 16 years on June 25, 2006 since Ronald Gene Simmons was put to death by lethal injection. Yet, the mention of his name around Pope, Yell, or Johnson county Arkansas still sparks fear in the hearts and minds of the locals who remember the news around Christmas, 1987. He is the “boogy man” in children’s nightmares, his family was the epitome of everything Social Service workers and school Counselors thought they were trained to spot, and his reclusive and bazaar lifestyle was something you would assume would have drawn the scrutiny and concern of people in the area. Yet this man and his family lived in this tiny Arkansas town only 1.8 miles in size, with 1,329 people, 529 households, and 372 families – unnoticed. His children attended public school, his wife often attended a local Church, and Simmons had worked several jobs in the nearby town of Russellville, Arkansas.
Simmons school age children were never allowed to attend school functions, friends were never allowed to spend a night at the Simmons home, nor were the Simmons children ever allowed to stay over at a friends home. Yet, this peculiarity went unnoticed. Later, school officials were interviewed about the Simmons children and only commented on having noticed the children were always clean and ready to catch the bus in the mornings. Although none of the Simmons children excelled in their studies, none drew attention by falling behind either. There were no records of disciplinary actions for the Simmons children, and their attendance had been near perfect. When Teachers were questioned about the children in their class, most commented that they really didn’t know the children well. It seems incredible that these children could have attended such a small school for so long and manage to remain relatively unnoticed and unknown. Simmons wife, Rebecca, reportedly tried to leave him on several occasions. Witnesses who were interviewed later remarked that they had noticed bruises on Rebecca’s face and arms on numerous occasions. Yet, this too, went unreported. The Simmons home had no telephone, they never received mail, nor sent mail from their rural box by the side of their driveway.
Just before Christmas 1987, Ronald Gene Simmons made a conscious decision to kill all the members of his family. On the morning of December 22, Simmons drove to the local Wal-Mart and purchased a .22 caliber handgun. When he returned home, he first bludgeoned and shot his son Gene and his long-suffering wife Rebecca. For a while, he left their bodies laying where they had fallen. He next focused his attention on his 3 year old daughter Barbara. Simmons strangled little Barbara, and wrapped her body in a black plastic trash bag. After having a beer, Simmons dumped the bodies in the cesspit he had made his children dig in the back yard several days prior. Now Simmons sat back and awaited the return of his other children. When they arrived off the bus he said he had presents for them but wanted to give them out one at a time. Sending all the children to their rooms, Simmons first summoned 17 year old Loretta, the oldest daughter still at home. Simmons strangled and held Loretta under the water in a rain barrel outside the home until she drowned. The three other children, Eddy, Marianne and Becky were all killed in a similar manner, one at a time.
Around noon on December 26, the remaining members of the family arrived at Simmons home for their planned Christmas visit with the family. The first to die was Simmons’ son Billy and daughter-in-law Renata, both shot dead as they entered the home, in full view of their son Trae. Trae was next to be strangled and drowned as Barbara and the other small children had been. Arriving at the house less than an hour later were, daughter Sheila and her husband Dennis McNulty, and the incestuous daughter Simmons had fathered with Sheila, Sylvia Gale, and the child Sheila and Dennis had together, Michael. Both Sheila and Dennis were shot not long after they entered the house. Simmons’ child by his own daughter, the christened Sylvia Gail, was strangled, and finally grandson Michael, in the same manner as the other small children had been put to death. Simmons laid the bodies of his whole family in neat rows in the living room. All the corpses were covered with coats except that of Sheila, who was laid out as if in a formal “viewing” state, covered by Mrs. Simmons’ best tablecloth. The bodies of the two grandsons were wrapped in plastic sheeting and left in abandoned cars at the end of the lane. Simmons soaked the bodies in kerosene, he said he believed that it would stop the smell coming out of the ground and prevent attracting animals and people.
After going out for a drink in a local bar, Simmons returned home later the evening of the 26th. Apparently oblivious of the corpses lined up around him, Simmons spent the next night and the following Sunday drinking beer and watching television. He drove into the nearby town of Russellville, Arkansas on Monday the 28th, with the .22-caliber pistol he’d purchased days earlier. Simmons drove to a law office and shot dead a young woman named Kathy Kendrick, age 24, who for some reason he blamed for many of his problems. Simmons then moved on down the street to the Taylor Oil Company. Simmons shot dead a man named J.D. Chaffin, 33 years old, and wounded the owner. He then drove to a convenience store where he had once worked and shot and wounded two more people. Simmons continued on to yet another office, Woodline Motor Freight Company, where he shot and wounded a woman. That was the end of his killing spree. Simmons simply sat in the office and chatted to one of the secretaries while waiting for the police. When they arrived he handed over his gun and surrendered without any resistance. No one at the scene that morning guessed Ronald Gene Simmons was actually winding down his killing spree. What appeared to be a contained incident of workplace violence was far worse. In fact, it had set a record.
Simmons was charged with sixteen counts of murder, found guilty and sentenced to death. On May 31, Arkansas Governor (later president) Bill Clinton, signed Simmons execution warrant, and on June 25, 1990 he died, as he had chosen to do, by lethal injection. To this day speculation runs rampant as to what Simmons motive had been. Books such as, “Zero at the Bone: The True Story of the Ronald Gene Simmons Christmas Massacre,” by Paul Williams and Bryce Marshall attempt to answer the questions. But even if the motive is established – there will remain unanswered questions. How could such a family live and work in such a small town – and no one notice the signs of obvious dysfunction? How could a school system see these children on a daily basis and notice nothing odd psychologically, emotionally, or socially? Perhaps we lull ourselves into believing agencies, trained professionals, and organizations are in place to spot problematic families such as this – and intervene before a tragedy such as this can occur. But the sad fact is that this sort of child abuse, spousal abuse, and dysfunction go unheeded every day.
Did you know�
An estimated 906000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect in 2003?
An average of four children die every day as a result of child abuse or neglect?
Each year, an estimated minimum of 3.3 million children witness domestic violence?
Approximately 95% of the victims of domestic violence are women?
Every 9 seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted and beaten?
4,000,000 women a year are assaulted by their partners?
In the United States, a woman is more likely to be assaulted, injured, raped, or killed by a male partner than by any other type of assailant?
Every day, 4 women are murdered by boyfriends or husbands?
(Department of Justice figures)
