The final meal request of a death row prisoner resulted in an agonizing death due to an error.

In 2004, Wesley Ira Purkey was sentenced to death for the abduction, rape, and murder of Jennifer Long, a 16-year-old student, in 1998.

According to reports, he enticed the teenage girl into his pickup truck outside a supermarket on January 22 after she was seen skipping classes.

He then raped Long before s****ing her to death.

He then dismembered her body with a chainsaw, and reportedly buried it along with the tool in a septic pond in Clearwater, Kansas.

Long's remains have never been found.

In addition, Purkey bludgeoned 80-year-old Mary Bales, who suffered from polio, to death in October 1998 using a claw hammer, after he visited her residence to repair a kitchen tap.

He was apprehended by the authorities when neighbors witnessed him attempting to dispose of Bales' body.

Purkey admitted to committing Bales' murder and was given a life sentence.

Subsequently, he admitted to the murder of Long and was sentenced to death.

In 2020, Purkey was put to death by receiving a lethal injection of pentobarbital.

The post-mortem examination of his body unveiled that he experienced "severe bilateral acute pulmonary edema" and "frothy pulmonary edema in the trachea and main stem bronchi".

As reported by News.com.au, this suggests that fluid rapidly entered his lungs and trachea, causing him to experience a sensation akin to "near-drowning," which medical professionals consider to be among the "most excruciating sensations known to man."

Dr Gail Van Norman explains: "It is a virtual medical certainty, that most, if not all, prisoners will experience excruciating suffering, including sensations of drowning and suffocation from [the lethal injection drug] pentobarbital."

Reportedly, for his final meal, Purkey, who was suspected to have had dementia, requested pecan pie.

Evidently, he requested to have it served "later," unaware that there would be no future opportunity.

It is believed that the evening before his execution, Purkey saw Bill Clinton on television and expressed his intention to vote for him in the upcoming presidential election.

The Daily Star reported that Purkey's last words were: "I deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to Jennifer's family. I am deeply sorry."

"I deeply regret the pain I caused to my daughter, who I love so very much."

"This sanitised murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever."

During the execution, Long's family was in attendance, and her father, William, stated: "We took care of today, what we needed to take care of. It has been a long time coming."

"He needed to take his last breath – he took my daughter's last breath. And there's some resolve. There is no closure, and there never will be because I won't get my daughter back."