December 28th, 1987 was a day that many in the Arkansas River Valley would just as soon forget. But that won’t happen for most who were in Pope County that day.
Ronald Gene Simmons, a high school dropout and twenty-two year veteran of the Armed Services, killed two people and wounded four on a shooting spree that terrorized the city of Russellville.
The rampage started at the Peel and Eddy Law Firm where a secretary was killed. Simmons had reportedly held an infatuation with Kathy Kendrick, who was in her late twenties at the time of her death. He would then move on to other locations including a service station on West Main Street where 33 year old JD Chaffin was shot and killed, and owner Rusty Taylor was wounded, and then a trucking company.
Understandably horrified, many residents of Russellville (including the author of this article) stayed in their homes and listened to the events unfold on radio station KARV. The radio station’s newsmen Johnny Story and Tom Kamerling provided wall-to-wall coverage of the event, which would become the top story in the United States that fateful afternoon.
Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come.
After Simmons was captured, authorities made the most gruesome discovery of all. Fourteen of his family members were found dead at his home north of Dover, including his children and grandchildren. The killing spree had started a week earlier when his family came home for Christmas.
After refusing to appeal his death sentence, Simmons was put to death on June 25th, 1990.
Grant Merrill
Grant Merrill is the Publisher of InsideFortSmith.Com, and owner of parent company Great Plains Digital Media. Prior to jumping into the digital world, he was a longtime sports talk show host on stations across Arkansas. E-Mail: grant@greatplainsdigital.com
